Redevelopment of Ganayak Cooperative Housing society, also known as Sahajeevan, located in the Lalbaug market has been stalled for the past two-and-a-half years. The BMC had declared it as highly dangerous and had listed it under its C1 list six years ago. Following this, several tenants were moved to a transit camp in Currey Road.
The two-floor structure was constructed in 1974 and had two wings which housed 50 tenants. Residents were living here until mid-2019.
What the tenants say:
“In 2017, a builder was supposed take over the redevelopment of the building, following which the tenants were shifted to a transit camp. However, the redevelopment was stalled due to paperwork and the tenants had to return to their houses,” said Manoj Gupta, one of the tenants.
He further said that in 2019, the condition of the building was very bad, due to which the BMC had given an NOC to carry out its redevelopment. But for the last two years, they are still waiting for it to be redeveloped and don’t have any idea when it will happen.
However, one of the committee members of the society said they had conducted a structural audit in 2017, but there were some faults in the audit due to which the redevelopment was stalled. In 2019, another structural audit was carried out, following which it was declared dilapidated. All the tenants were then shifted to a transit camp. “We are eagerly waiting for the redevelopment to take place, but due to the pandemic everything has been stalled,” he said.
What the officials say:
Meanwhile, the BMC has confirmed that the structure has been declared dilapidated and is part of the 407 buildings listed under C1.
“We had already informed Mhada that the building is unsafe for living. In its reply, Mhada said that they have given an NOC for redevelopment,” said a BMC official from the Building and Factory Department of F-south ward.
