Post-2000 slums to get relief

With an eye on the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, the state government is set to regularise and give protection to illegal slums that were built after January 1, 2000. The current cut-off date is January 1, 2000 and all slums that have come up before that date have been regularised by the Congress-NCP government.

“We will soon announce a policy for slum dwellers who have built their slums after the cut-off date of 2000. The plan is to charge a minimal transfer fee from slum dwellers, and, in exchange, the state will construct free homes for them,” said Prakash Mehta, state housing minister.

Earlier, during the winter session, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that his government had sought legal opinion to extend the cut-off date of slums in the city from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2000. Mr Fadnavis had announced that the government was in talks with central agencies like defence and railways to provide permanent homes to people who have encroached on the land of the Central government.

“We have allotted the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) the work of conducting ‘Door-to-Door Biometric Slum Survey’ after which Annexure-II, which will help in identifying eligibility and non-eligibility of slum dwellers for a rehabilitation scheme, will be known,” added Mr Mehta. “The report for the same will be out within six months and later the state government will declare a concrete policy and regularise the slums post 2000. However, no decision on extending the cut-off date has been framed yet. But we have decided to regularise them, as our government is committed to give affordable homes or all by 2022,” he said.

The SRA is conducting a ‘Door-to-Door Biometric Slum Survey,’ under which all slum dwellers in the city will be identified. The slum dwellers will then be provided with a ‘Smart Card’ that will be a proof of them being the real owner of a shanty.

Political plan Earlier in January 2012, a month away from the BMC elections, the Congress-NCP government had extended the cut-off date from January 1, 1995 to January 1, 2000 to allegedly influence voters in the city.