City Beat: Mumbai Chawl Redevelopment Work Hits Many Hurdles [Video]

The ongoing redevelopment of chawls has been turned into a nightmare for the residents. According to media reports, many developers who are responsible to pay rents to residents for an alternative housing have stopped making the payment. The reports further suggest, more than 5,000 projects have been hit in the middle owning to insignificant reasons, and as a result developers have stopped paying the rents to the dislocated chawl residents. Developers who care carrying out the redevelopment work in Mumbai are being offered many incentives by authorities.

This is the reason why despite the fact that the new Development Control Regulation has tasked the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA) to carry out redevelopment of Mumbai chawls, a section of residents living in Bombay Development Directorate (BDD) tenements are insisting they want to do the work on their own. It has to be noted that under the new section, the development authority does not require the permission of chawl residents to go ahead with the redevelopment work. The light of the fact, the MHADA may go ahead with its redevelopment plan despite the protests.

In another similar development, the old and dilapidated buildings in Mumbai suburbs will also be able to enjoy the benefits extended under the state's redevelopment policy, with the Maharashtra state government deciding to extend it to the faraway parts, too. According to the new housing policy, over 10,000 old building in the suburbs will be eligible for a floor area ratio (FSI) of three. Floor area ratio is the ratio of a building's total floor area to the size of the piece of land upon which it is built. This means suburbs in Mumbai will now have taller buildings.