Sena wants BMC, not Mhada, to redevelop Dharavi

A week after the chief minister gave the green light to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) to revamp Dharavi’s sector 5, the Shiv Sena wants the municipal corporation to do the task.

A week after the chief minister gave the green light to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) to revamp Dharavi’s sector 5, the Shiv Sena wants the municipal corporation to do the task.

HT Image

The Sena, the ruling party in the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), wants chief minister to allow the corporation to redevelop the slum area, instead of government agencies and private parties, because it owns more than 70% of land in Dharavi.

“The BMC is a planning authority and we have all required skills and manpower to execute the project,” Rahul Shewale, Sena leader and chairman of the civic standing committee, wrote a letter to the chief minister, Prithviraj Chavan. “If we can provide basic amenities such as water supply and construct roads in the area, why can’t we redevelop the project?”

Proposed in February 4, 2004, the Dharavi redevelopment project aims at transforming one of the largest slums sprawling across 535 acres into a plush township.

The plan envisaged creation of five sectors and 19 bidders were shortlisted to undertake the work. But delay in the project forced many bidders to back out.

On Monday, Chavan passed an order allowing Mhada to redevelop sector 5, the 153-acre area adjoining Sion and Bandra-Kurla Complex, of Dharavi.

The chief minister also cancelled the bids of private bidders for the other four sectors because he did not want the revamp to favour builders. The plan involves rehabilitating 9,300 families, who will move into bigger houses and create an additional 5,000 affordable houses.