Expedite rehab of slums near Mithi river and on Mumbai airport land: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray

Chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday directed officials to expedite the rehabilitation of slum-dwellers around the Mithi riverfront on the Mumbai airport

Chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday directed officials to expedite the rehabilitation of slum-dwellers around the Mithi riverfront on the Mumbai airport land.

The expansion of the Mumbai airport, which was proposed in 2006, has been stuck owing to opposition from hutment dwellers. (HT Photo)

The meeting held at CM’s official residence Varsha, was attended by the officials from the housing department, slum rehabilitation authority (SRA) and urban development. Thackeray directed the officials to finish the process of rehabilitating the slum dwellers who are ineligible for rehabilitation, as per the 1995 Slum Regularisation Rules, under the 2011 rule of the state government. A speedier rehabilitation of the slum-dwellers will give a boost to the long-delayed expansion plan of the Mumbai airport.

Slum-dwellers at Kranti Nagar and Sandesh Nagar in Kurla on the Mithi riverfront should be rehabilitated on priority, CM Thackeray said, according to a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO). “Those slum-dwellers, who are ineligible for rehabilitation as per the 1995 rules, must be made eligible under the 2011 rules. The rehabilitation of the slum-dwellers must be completed in a time-bound manner,” Thackeray said.

In December 2017, the state government had cleared an amendment in the Maharashtra Slum Areas Act, 1971, to enable the government to provide houses to ‘ineligible’ slum-dwellers residing in hutments built until January 1, 2011. However, they will have to pay the construction cost before getting possession.

The expansion of the Mumbai airport, which was proposed in 2006, has been stuck owing to opposition from hutment dwellers, who occupy 276 acres of airport land. Shiv Sena legislators from Mumbai had raised the issue of freeing up the airport land, among other issues, with Thackeray during their meeting last week.

The CM added that there are 17,200 tenements available in Kurla, which must be utilised for rehabilitation, after its repair, as some of the buildings are in an uninhabitable condition. He added that besides squatters on the airport land, slum-dwellers around Mithi river must be rehabilitated on priority by constructing tenements in other areas.

Redevelopment of BBD chawls

The much-delayed redevelopment of BDD chawls was also discussed in a separate meeting chaired by Thackeray on Wednesday as Larsen and Toubro reportedly decided to withdraw from the Naigaum project. The firm had bagged the contracts to redevelop Naigaum and Worli BDD chawls. A private contractor also made a presentation in the meeting, however, no decision was taken. The state government had planned to redevelop all the four clusters of BDD chawls — Naigaon, NM Joshi, Worli and Sewri. Tata Group had bagged the NM Joshi project.