While the government continues to promote self-redevelopment, residents of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP) Nagar in Andheri West, one of the largest Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) colonies, are confused about the future of their homes after the housing authority issued a letter to the housing department over a month ago stating that it will undertake redevelopment of the entire cluster.
On July 7, MHADA Vice-President and Chief Executive Officer Sanjeev Jaiswal wrote a letter to the state housing department on the redevelopment of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Nagar by the appointment of a construction and development agency and that the redevelopment should be done along the lines of what was done at Motilal Nagar-1, 2 and 3, Abhyudaya Nagar Kalachowkie, Bandra Reclamation and Adarsh Nagar Worli, as per Regulation 33 (9) of the Development Control and Promotion Rules.
To create affordable housing in Mumbai city and suburbs, the government, through the Mumbai board of MHADA, created 56 colonies for the Middle Income Group (MIG) and Low Income Group (LIG). There are approximately 5000 cooperative housing societies in these colonies.
SVP Nagar is an old MHADA colony spread across a huge area in Andheri West. The houses to LIG and MIG people were distributed in 1993 under the World Bank project through a lottery. In this colony, there are a total of 98 clusters of 25 sq m, 30 sq m and 40 sq m plots, with 98 cooperative housing societies established. Also, in addition to these 98 LIG societies, 62 individual plots of 60 sq m or larger, and 245 individual plots of 100 sq m or larger, have been distributed under the scheme.
Of the 98 societies, seven have already completed redevelopment and three are under construction. Of the remaining societies, six have signed their development agreement. This also means that MHADA plans to do the redevelopment of the remaining 82 housing societies where 2666 families reside.
According to the letter written by MHADA to the housing department, joint redevelopment under the scheme will enable the overall development by providing basic/modern amenities (such as playgrounds, entertainment grounds, gymnasiums, swimming pools, club houses, institution offices, and theatres etc). The letter also states that since some of the buildings/chawls in SVP Nagar are in dilapidated condition, they should be redeveloped and in order to improve the living standards of the residents, houses with more floor area should be provided.
Following the MHADA letter to the state housing department, the residents of SVP Nagar are in a state of confusion regarding the redevelopment of their housing societies as individual developers continue to approach societies with lucrative offers. A resident from one of the housing societies said, “The letter states that MHADA will do the redevelopment on construction and demolition basis. However, private developers are still approaching us with lucrative redevelopment offers. So, we are confused about whether it’s allowed or not. MHADA should give clarity on this so that people don’t fall into any trap.”
Infrastructure and development expert Ratnakar Ahire told mid-day that the redevelopment of SVP Nagar is expected to take place in the next few months. “As feasibility tends to be less profitable and complications of FSI calculation and distribution under DCR 33(5), private developers are not interested in redeveloping the colony. So, MHADA decided to redevelop it in cluster development format, which makes it available for a mixed FSI distribution while providing sufficient carpet area to existing members along with housing stock for MHADA with more profit potential for selected developers,” Ahire said. mid-day attempted to contact MHADA officials for comment, but they were unavailable.
