Mumbai: The fire on Monday morning in a ground plus one storey commercial building, which left eight people injured, has once again highlighted the long-pending issue of redevelopment of old dilapidated and cessed buildings situated in South Mumbai, especially in Kamathipura.
Without redevelopment or delay in such proceeding, tenants in these structures continue to live without fire and other safety measures in place.
Although Kamathipura has seen drastic real estate development in recent times with several private builders constructing high-rises here, redevelopment of old buildings has mostly been in just black and white.
In 2016, Mumbai Building Repairs & Reconstruction Board (MBRRB), an undertaking of the Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority (MHADA), wished to undertake cluster redevelopment of old cessed buildings at Kamathipura.
For this, a committee of legislators had suggested various guidelines. The proposal did get cabinet clearance, but the same is yet to be tabled before the legislative assembly for further approval, said an MBRRB source.
Explaining cluster redevelopment, the source said as per policy a land area of at least 4,000 square metres is required for the purpose. Moreover, cluster redevelopment provides more Floor Space Index (FSI) as compared to normal redevelopment of an old building.
“Since many old cessed buildings are situated close to each other and on narrow roads, redevelopment of such structures singularly becomes difficult.
Therefore, it is necessary to take redevelopment of more buildings together. Moreover, if any private building falls in that cessed building property, it further obstructs the project.
Therefore, it has been proposed that such private buildings too should be included under cluster redevelopment policy. MHADA should be given rights to take over such private property,” he added.
Vinod Ghosalkar, Chairman of MBRRB and former legislator of Shiv Sena, told FPJ: “Our government will surely take up this issue and resolve it.”
Once the state government gives clearance, the redevelopment of about 150 old cessed buildings at Kamatipura under cluster policy will be expedited. Besides, the Mumbai Board of MHADA will also get housing stock in the island city for drawing housing lottery.
In south Mumbai, there are nearly 16,000 old cessed buildings which are a century old. Redevelopment was announced for such buildings at Kamatipura in 2016 by MBRRB after a building collapsed in which 14 people lost lives.
