SRA: Inside Mumbai's Slum Rehabilitation Journey From Informal Settlements To Permanent Homes

Mumbai: As part of the Free Press for Better Mumbai campaign, the Free Press Journal presents SRA, Building Tomorrow’s Mumbai, a documentary series exploring Mumbai’s slum rehabilitation journey through the voices of officials, planners and residents.

The series looks at the growth of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority, the challenges of redevelopment, the struggles faced by families during transit, and the impact rehabilitation has had on thousands of lives across the city.

From stalled projects and long waits to new homes and digital transparency, the series captures the human side of one of Mumbai’s biggest urban transformation efforts.

THE CITY WITHIN THE CITY

Mumbai is often called the city of dreams, but for many years, a large section of the city lived in difficult housing conditions that were mostly ignored. Alongside high-rise buildings and commercial districts were slums and chawls where lakhs of families struggled daily for water, sanitation and proper shelter.

By the 1990s, more than half of Mumbai’s population was estimated to be living in slum settlements. These settlements occupied a small portion of the city’s land but housed a major part of its workforce. Domestic workers, labourers, taxi drivers, carpenters, vendors and fishermen all came from these communities and helped keep Mumbai running every day.

Most families lived in small homes made from tin sheets and temporary materials. During monsoons, houses leaked and flooded regularly. Shared toilets, drainage problems and poor hygiene were common across many areas.

Speaking about the thinking behind rehabilitation, senior official Deshmukh said the government realised that simply removing slums was never going to solve the problem. “People living in slums also deserved dignified housing and rehabilitation,” he said.

This led to the formation of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority in December 1995 under the Maharashtra Slum Areas Act. The aim was to create a system where slum dwellers could receive proper homes without being pushed far away from the city.

The SRA model introduced a cross-subsidy system where developers constructed free rehabilitation homes for eligible slum residents while using sale buildings to recover project costs. Over time, this model became one of Mumbai’s biggest redevelopment mechanisms.

Govind Magar explained that the biggest challenge was making rehabilitation financially possible in a city where land prices were extremely high. “Developers were allowed additional development rights so that rehabilitation housing could be funded through the sale component,” he said.

Today, SRA handles surveys, permissions, eligibility verification and redevelopment planning across thousands of slum pockets in Mumbai.

For many residents, rehabilitation has changed everyday life completely. Resident Satya Shankar Mistry said his family earlier lived in poor conditions with common toilets and hygiene issues. “Now we have proper toilets, water and good facilities. The children can play safely downstairs and the family feels secure,” he said.

According to official figures, SRA has already delivered more than 2.35 lakh rehabilitation homes across Mumbai, while several more projects are under development. For many families, the dream of finally owning a permanent home has now become reality.

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