Mira-Bhayandar: In a much-needed step towards making Mira-Bhayandar slum-free, Chief Minister (CM) Eknath Shinde has given his in-principle nod to set up the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) for rehabilitation projects in the region. Mr Shinde made this announcement while speaking at the closing ceremony of the four-day art festival, hosted by MLA Pratap Sarnaik in Bhayandar on Monday, with noted poet Mr Kumar Vishwas enthralling the audience with his poetic punches.
The CM also said that the Thane model for cluster redevelopment of rickety buildings will be implemented in the twin-cities. There are a total of 36 small and big-sized slum settlements in the region. Of these, two including Janta Nagar and Kranti Nagar in Kashimira are staring at an uncertain future for the past more than a decade due to technical and procedural hurdles in the much-hyped Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP) scheme.
Under the SRA scheme, those living in slums have to form a cooperative housing society and together decide on a developer for redevelopment. The developer is supposed to build rehabilitation tenements and hand them over to the dwellers for free. In exchange, the developer is entitled to get compensated in the form of floor space index (FSI) to construct flats which can be sold in the open market to cover expenses and make a profit.
Thanking Mr Shinde for his positive approach, Mr Sarnaik said, “While the implementation of SRA schemes will help in improving the lifestyle of slum dwellers with much-needed facilities, the cluster model will facilitate redevelopment of rickety buildings.”
It should be noted that most of the old and dilapidated structures are on small plots which have already consumed an FSI of more than four, thus making redevelopment options difficult and non-viable under the existing permission norms.
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