800 families relocated to make way for Worli-Sewri elevated corridor

The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) has relocated around 800 families from 1,100 slums in Worli’s Kamgar Nagar to transit camps in Dharavi in order to facilitate the construction of Sewri-Worli elevated corridor

The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) has relocated around 800 families from 1,100 slums in Worli’s Kamgar Nagar to transit camps in Dharavi in order to facilitate the construction of Sewri-Worli elevated corridor.

800 families relocated to make way for Worli-Sewri elevated corridor

The demolition of the slums was completed on September 19, and work on the corridor began on Wednesday, metropolitan commissioner SVR Srinivas told HT.

The project is scheduled to be completed within 18 months.

The last leg of the rehabilitation will involve shifting 160 more families. On September 24, chief minister Eknath Shinde met some of these families.

“The CM asked the remaining residents to either opt for a monthly rent or go in for transit tenements in Century Bazar. Some 40-odd people have decided to take the rent. We will make the payment and shift them accordingly. About 90% of rehabilitation work is completed,” Srinivas said.

He said this was the most complex infrastructure project involving relocation of not just slum dwellers but also over 320 families from 19 buildings at Elphinstone in G South ward, and F South ward.

The displacement did not affect the livelihood of the slum residents who were mainly vendors and labourers, Srinivas said. “It took nearly six months to rehabilitate the 800 families as the challenge was to find them a place close to their places of work. We could have sent them to Mahul. But instead, we managed to house them in Jasmine and Aasra compounds in Dharavi.”

The MMRDA had to purchase the transit accommodation under Shivshahi Punarvasan Prakalp.

Incidentally, the area cleared of slums at Kamgar Nagar was originally reserved as a road in the development plan around 25 years ago.

The MMRDA has taken up the elevated corridor project as part of the traffic dispersal system of Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL). The proposed link is a 4.5-km-long and four-lane elevated corridor providing direct connectivity to Bandra-Worli Sea Link and Coastal Road.