The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has directed the housing department to focus on redevelopment projects in the city. At a review meeting of the department on Tuesday, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray reportedly said that the real estate industry is a tool to revive the slowed down economy and it is important that projects are finished, after completing the due process, at the earliest.
Among the projects which the government has decided to speed up include all Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects, Goregaon’s Patra chawl redevelopment, and the redevelopment of residence of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in Parel. A special meeting will soon be organised to discuss the Dharavi redevelopment project, pending for over a decade.
An official who attended the meeting said that Mr. Thackeray stressed upon the need to push the real estate industry as it directly and indirectly helps revive the slowed down economy. “He said that it affects various other sectors and increases economic activity around. The government is looking at these redevelopment projects as a tool to push ahead the growth of overall economy,” said the official.
“A centralised mechanism should be established to sort out all the problems arising while fixing the eligibility of slum dwellers in the SRA projects and a fixed time frame must be announced for the same,” said Mr. Thackeray, while directing the speeding up of SRA projects which are pending for years under the pretext of non-payment of rent to the slum dwellers, and the unavailability of transit camps.
Goregaon’s Patra Chawl redevelopment, pending since 2008, was also taken up in the review meeting. “Uddhavji has directed the MHADA to present a proposal to pay rent to the original inhabitants of the area and directed that the project be completed at the earliest,” said the Industries Minister Subhash Desai.
As the Dharavi Rehabilitation Committee (DRC) gets ready to push Dharavi’s redevelopment under the new government, Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad said the original owners should get the houses with extra space being allocated to those who have set up their businesses.
