Mumbai: The refusal to vacate premises by tenants of dilapidated buildings declared “dangerous” by Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has left its officials in a quandary. The authority is not keen on getting court permission to evict the tenants or have their power supply disconnected. Besides, certain tenants too have moved court to stop Mhada from evicting them.
A Mhada official from the repair board said, “There are around 10 to 12 families still residing in Fatima Chawl, which has been marked as highly dangerous, but the people do not want to vacate. There is strong resistance and police force will be required to vacate them forcefully. We do not have the police force now. The developer is ready for redevelopment but people are insisting on repairs. This makes things more difficult.”
Last year, Hussaini Building in Bhendi Bazar collapsed, killing 31 people. The residents had been reluctant about vacating the building despite several notices from the authority. This year, the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), responsible for cluster redevelopment of the area, has conducted awareness programmes to educate people and persuade them to vacate.
There are at least 14,000 dilapidated buildings in the city which fall under the repair board.
So far, 800 buildings have been repaired by them.
