MUMBAI: The State Housing Department is expected to send a proposal to the Cabinet, recommending that first-floor residents of chawls be included in Slum Rehabilitation Schemes, government sources have told Mumbai Mirror.
A Housing Department official told Mirror that the proposal will apply specifically only to chawls, and not slums. According to the draft proposal, a chawl is a structure built before 1976 on private land that have property tax proof and non-agricultural documents. Once eligibility is confirmed for a chawl, residents need to provide proof of residence from before January 1, 2000.
Currently, residents above the ground floor are not considered for rehabilitation when a chawl is redeveloped under the SRA.
As per official data, Mumbai’s suburbs have around 4,500 chawls, with around 3.5 lakh residents. Some of the biggest chawls under this definition are in Borivali, Malad, Kurla, Ghatkopar, and Mulund.
In the suburbs, chawls are small, mostly single-storey structures on private land, and slums have risen around these chawls. Rehabilitation of the slum has stalled in many places as upper-floor residents of chawls have not been eligible for rehabilitation.
“Thus, we have decided to include upper-floor chawl residents in the SRA scheme,” the official said. The proposal will be tabled before the Cabinet in a month or two.
In the island city, chawls are multi-storied, and there are also clusters of chawls on large plots of land. These do not have any problems finding takers for redevelopment, as private builders are happy to develop big plots.
“Due to the opposition from first-floor chawl residents, builders are not interested in developing small pockets of land in the suburbs, where the chawls are small,” the official said. “If these chawls are brought under the SRA, the process of redevelopment will be faster.”
According to an SRA official, slum pockets are declared in government documents, but chawls are not included in it.
While chawls have a common entrance, property tax receipts, separate water connections, and toilets on each floor, slums have separate entrances for each unit and do not pay property tax.
Vinod Mishra, a former BJP corporator, said the decision will help speed up the redevelopment of old chawls. Ashish Shelar, guardian minister, Suburban Mumbai, said, “We discussed this issue with officials on Thursday. I have asked the Housing Department to table a proposal. Not only residents of the first floor but also residents of the upper floor can be included in this scheme,” Shelar added.
