After Elphinstone, Sewri PAPs too demand in-situ rehab

Mumbai: Following chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ announcement on Monday regarding in situ rehabilitation for residents of 19 buildings affected by the proposed two-deck flyover at Prabhadevi, replacing the British-era Elphinstone bridge, slum dwellers in Sewri affected by the same project have raised similar demands.

On Tuesday, Sewri MLA and Shiv Sena leader Ajay Choudhari met the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee along with a few affected slum dwellers to press for their in-situ rehabilitation instead of financial compensation.

“If the MMRDA is providing in-situ rehabilitation to residents of all 19 buildings (in Prabhadevi), the same should be applicable for all project-affected persons. They cannot have different rules in the same project,” Choudhari told Hindustan Times.

The Prabhadevi two-deck flyover is part of the 4.5-km Sewri-Worli elevated corridor, which aims to connect the Atal Setu with the Bandra-Worli Sea Link. The MMRDA had initially planned to demolish 19 buildings alongside the old Elphinstone bridge to make way for the two-deck flyover, but later changed its alignment, requiring the demolition of only two buildings.

The Elphinstone bridge was supposed to be closed to traffic from Monday. But on Friday, residents of the remaining 17 buildings staged a protest, fearing damage to their buildings during construction work. Subsequently on Monday, Fadnavis announced that residents of all 19 buildings in Prabhadevi would be rehabilitated at the same location.

The development has prompted 130 slum dwellers in Sewri – spread across Hanuman Nagar, Mahatma Phule Nagar and Sena Nagar – who will be displaced by the project’s pillars to also seek rehabilitation at the same location instead of financial compensation.

Dilip Rahatan, a resident of Mahatma Phule Nagar, said though the MMRDA had offered them ₹25-40 lakh as compensation, they would not get any home in Sewri for that amount. “We want a place in Sewri itself. If that’s not possible, a tenement at the site where residents of 19 buildings in Prabhadevi are housed would also be acceptable to us,” he said.

HT contacted MMRDA commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee for comments on the Sewri residents’ demands, but there was no response.