Maharashtra Cabinet Approves Key Amendments To Slum Act For Faster Rehabilitation

In a significant step toward accelerating slum rehabilitation and transforming Maharashtra into a slum-free state, the state cabinet has approved amendments to the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance, and Redevelopment) Act. Three key provisions of the 1971 Act will be amended.

Currently, once a piece of land is officially declared a slum area, the landowner, developer, or concerned cooperative society must submit a rehabilitation proposal within 120 days. Under the amended provisions, this timeline will be reduced to 60 days. If no proposal is submitted within the revised period, the responsibility for redeveloping the slum area may be transferred to another authority. This amendment will be made under Section 15(1).

In cases where slum rehabilitation projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) are implemented in joint partnership by government, semi-government bodies, authorities or local self-governments, the land will now be made available to them on a 30-year lease within 30 days of issuing the letter of intent. This will enable easier access to funding and loans from banks or financial institutions. This provision will be included under the new Section 15-A. The amendment will also address residents who refuse to voluntarily participate in slum rehabilitation schemes. The procedure for handling such cases will now be elaborated under Section 33-A.

Currently, instead of providing transit camps, developers are required to pay rent to slum dwellers during rehabilitation. However, many developers delay these payments, resulting in growing arrears. To resolve this, a new Section 33-B will be introduced, allowing legal recovery of unpaid rent or dues from developers under revenue recovery laws.