In a bid to make available the much-needed land currently occupied by slums and thereby to ease out the operations of Mumbai airport, the slum redevelopment will be conducted at the same place in the cluster development model. This will become a part of the land free which will be transferred to the airport, announced Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the housing portfolio, in a debate in the state assembly on the presently deteriorating conditions of infrastructure in Mumbai and slow pace of slum redevelopment and rehabilitation.
Fadnavis did not elaborate on which slums will be redeveloped first and how much vacated land can be transferred to the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) which operates the airport. However, a senior housing department official told the Free Press Journal, ‘’The government after talks with the MIAL and Airport Authority of India will decide which slums to be taken up first for redevelopment. By and large, slums are situated in the aeronautical zone, on land which is meant for construction of a rehabilitation portion and on land identified for commercial exploitation by the airport operator. However, slums outside these three categories may not be considered for cluster development as of now.’’ He added that the rehabilitation of slum-dwellers will free 200 acres for aeronautical and commercial development.
The officer said that Mumbai airport is spread over 1,981 acres, and runways, terminal buildings, and aircraft hangars account for nearly 1,169 acres (58% of the land). Nearly 308 acres (or 15.58%) of the land is encroached upon, while about 7% is vacant or undeveloped. At present, 276 acres of 1,875 acres of airport land are occupied by over 80,000 slum families.
BJP legislator Parag Advani, who has been pressing for the redevelopment of slums situated on the airport land since 2004, said thatwith Fadnavis's announcement a new beginning has been made as there was no movement during the last two and half years. ‘’At the fag end of Fadnavis-led government (between 2014 and 2019), the government had proposed for an in Situ redevelopment using land as a resource with private participation for providing houses to eligible slum dwellers. Under this model, MIAL would have handed over 65 acres of land for In Situ rehabilitation but it also could not go forward.
Alvani said the government will now redevelop slums on a fast track.
MMRDA floats tenders to makeover 18,000 homes at Kurla
Fadnavis also announced that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has issued the tender for improving the present conditions of homes built by HDIL at Kurla that were meant for shifting slum dwellers from the airport land. MMRDA will hand over these homes later to the Slum Rehabilitation Authority. Thereafter, slum dwellers, which need to be shifted on security grounds from their present location on airport land, will be moved to tenements in Kurla. There are about 18,000 homes constructed earlier but lying vacant.
