Mumbai is not just a city but also a state of mind. It’s din, its energy, its optimism is addictive. Just breathing in Mumbai gives you a high. No one who have lived here for five years can adjust to life anywhere. Even Mumbai’s satellite townships are a pale shadow of the Maximum City.
A house of one’s own in Mumbai is therefore such a matter of pride. The real estate prices here though are higher than its skyscrapers. Many long-time residents of the city are therefore trapped not only in small tenements but also in old buildings which are well past their lifespan.
They have just one option; to sell the flat and to move to the outskirts of the city. However, residents of 388 de-cessed buildings in the Parel-Worli belt do not even have that option.These are tenants of buildings owned and redeveloped by MHADA three decades ago and of buildings constructed for tenants by BMC around the same time.
Over the years, these buildings have become creaky but there is no provision in the law to redevelop them. Their status as MHADA-owned properties and a cap on FSI, made them unattractive for private developers. And MHADA has its hands full. In effect, thousands of families were condemned to living in vertical slums which could come down crashing anytime like a pack of cards.
This lacuna in the law leading to a humanitarian crisis was sought to be filled last week by a proposed amendment to the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulation, thanks to the initiative of Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde.
The amendment awards an FSI of 3, plus an incentive FSI, whichever is higher, to raze and redevelop these 388 buildings and provide the old tenants with 300 sq ft flats on the same plot. The ownership of the building though remains with MHADA.
Overnight, the residents’ despair has turned to joy. They not only will get new houses but bigger houses and that, too, in the same locality. This is why Mumbai is called the city of dreams. This is why no Mumbaikar wants to leave Mumbai.
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