Eight months ago, there was hope that much of dilapidating Mumbai would get a facelift and be redeveloped. Today, the scenario is worrisome.
Thanks to the Adarsh building scam, no files for redevelopment are being cleared. The absurd (often collusive) application of discretion and permitting garage parking inside individual apartments even on higher floors, free of Floor Space Index (FSI) norms had to be cancelled once investigations into real estate scams were ordered by India’s courts.
As a result, tenants and owners who were moved out of their premises with a promise of being given back a better home after redevelopment, continue to be kept out, with no clear date for re-possession of their premises.
Many old buildings in urgent need for repairs remain precarious places of dwelling.

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A new law being mooted by the state government could well qualify it to become the official enforcement agency working for the city’s developers.

The proposed law, which is being introduced under the garb of conveying the government’s seriousness “to prevent deliberate derailment of redevelopment projects by opportunists”, will be used to coerce unwilling tenants and society members into signing up for redevelopment projects.

“Members who are in a minority will be dealt with firmly. The new act will have a provision that will allow deploying of a special police cell to bring reluctant parties to the table and investigate if there is any merit in their anti-redevelopment argument,” said minister of state for housing Sachin Ahir, adding that, “If there is no good reason then they will have to sign up and they will be evicted under Section 95-A to make way for the project.”

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Mumbai is renowned as a melting pot of various groups, irrespective of class, caste and creed. But a new, disturbing form of disparity is now eating its way into citizens’ lives, especially in redeveloped buildings and townships. Several of these housing societies are imposing invisible divisions based on the size of the house owned and the length of the resident’s occupancy.

In the townships, owners of bigger flats are looking down upon those possessing smaller ones; in redeveloping buildings, older residents sneer at the flashy ways of their new neighbours. And the newer occupants always find it difficult to acclimatise to the conservative ways of the old lot. Miten Shah, resident of Bandra, previously stayed at Vashi, Navi Mumbai, where he found it difficult to adapt to the constant jibes passed by his neighbours.

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It was supposed to serve as a model for the rest of Mumbai. But the city’s first self-redevelopment project — the Ganesh Nagar ‘D’ co-operative housing society at Mahalaxmi — has been stuck for seven years now due to an alleged fraud in the transfer of development rights (TDR).

A total of 390 residents had taken it upon themselves to redevelop the housing society in 1998. With guidance from the slum rehabilitation society (SRS), they managed to raise a corpus fund of Rs27 lakh from among themselves to redevelop 3,800sqm of the plot by constructing three seven-storied buildings. They planned to raise another Rs5 crore through sale of the society’s TDR for 3,000sqm of the plot.

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Redevelopment plans for around 50 apartments, originally promoted by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) in areas like Besant Nagar, Adyar, Anna Nagar and Shanthi Colony, are stuck in legal battles. What’s worse, many apartment complexes have already been razed and the owners are staying in rented premises waiting to move into their new houses.
The dispute between the apartment owners and the TNHB is over a premium (10% cost of the extra floor space index – FSI is the ratio of land area to the builtup area) that the latter is demanding for issuing no-objection certificates (NOC) for the redevelopment.

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A BMC proposal seeks to completely overhaul the transfer of development rights (TDR) policy to make it more equitable, in a move that is expected to have far-reaching repercussions on the city’s development plan.

In his plan which is to be submitted to the state government soon, BMC chief Subodh Kumar has proposed that TDR be allowed anywhere in the city , not be restricted to the suburbs . Its selective use in highend areas of the western suburbs has led to lopsided development, especially in the Bandra-Khar-Juhu belt.

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Residents said they had been in the middle of a redevelopment-related dispute. “There has been pressure to vacate the building for redevelopment for many months. There was opposition from residents. In hindsight, it would have been better if people had moved out. This loss wouldn’t have happened,” said a resident, Vijeta Narvekar.

Civic officials said there was no option but to pull down the structure. “The building has weakened and it needs to be razed,” said divisional fire office Prabat Rahangdale.

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Realty firm Godrej Properties (GPL) today said it will be redeveloping 18 residential buildings at Chembur in central suburban Mumbai.

Godrej Landmark Redevelopers (GLRPL), a subsidiary of Godrej Projects Development (GPDPL) will execute the project spread over 14,600 sq mt, which will offer around 600,000 sq ft of free saleable area, a company statement said.

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The Bombay high court has set it in concrete: a decision for redevelopment taken by a housing society’s general body will prevail.

Brushing aside the objections raised by three members of Jaydeep Apartments Cooperative Housing Society in Borivli (W), Justice S J Vazifdar paved the way for the 27-year-old building’s redevelopment and ordered the dissenting three to vacate their flats by April 30, 2012.

The three had not attended the society’s general body meeting in which the redevelopment decision was taken.

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