Residents of 132 slums in Mumbai will soon ‘own’ their plots

The Maharashtra government has decided to speed up the transfer of land lease from the SRA to residents of slum colonies who have been rehabilitated

The Maharashtra government has decided to speed up the transfer of land lease from the Slum Redevelopment Authority (SRA) to residents of slum colonies who have been rehabilitated.

This will benefit 132 slum societies in the city where new buildings have been built under the redevelopment project. The transfer of land will make slum dwellers virtual owners of their plots and bring in more transparency, an official said on the condition of anonymity.

The decision to expedite the transfer was taken in the state legislature by urban development minister Ranjit Patil. He assured that this would be done within a month.

According to BJP legislator Ashish Shelar, there were 132 slums in which various government agencies — the Briahnmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) — have not transferred the land lease to residents.

Ideally, the government agencies should first transfer the lease to SRA, which in turn hands it over to the residents.

As many as 42 plots owned by the BMC are being redeveloped by SRA. The civic body has transferred lease of all these plots to SRA, which is yet to transfer them to slum societies. In case of MHADA, 16 of the 61 plots were transferred to SRA but it has not handed them over to concerned societies.

Ramesh Prabhu of the Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association said the government’s move would turn slum dwellers into virtual land owners.