Mumbai: About 960 tenants of the Sewri Bombay Development Directorate (BDD) chawls can breathe easy, as Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said he would come up with a policy for them. The chawls are situated on Mumbai Port Trust (MBPT) land, which belongs to the Centre. The state has already started redeveloping BDD chawls in Worli, barring their Sewri counterparts, which would require the MBPT’s permission.
Intending to woo Marathi voters in Sewri, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leaders met Mr Gadkari to convince him to take a quick decision on the slum’s redevelopment. At present, there is no policy for the redevelopment of structures on the MBPT land and hence the state is finding it tough to redevelop the Sewri chawls. “The minister has assured us of a land policy for redevelopment. There are 960 tenants residing in 12 buildings spread over 72 acres. The state government had approved the redevelopment of BDD chawls but Sewri’s was stuck,” MNS leader Chetan Pednekar said. The MNS has submitted a memorandum to the minister in this regard.
The redevelopment of the century-old BDD chawls, would generate housing stock of 16,000 affordable homes.
The chawls, which are spread across Lower Parel, Naigaon and Worli, will not only rehabilitate 15,000-odd tenants but also generate affordable housing in the city. This is crucial for the affordable home segment market of the city, at a time when the state housing authority Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) is facing problems while coming out with the annual lottery of affordable homes.
