MHADA declares 14,207 South Mumbai buildings dilapidated, but tenants unwilling to shift

Ahead of the monsoon, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has identified 14,207 buildings in the island city as dilapidated structures, but lakhs of families residing in these buildings are not willing to move out as they are not sure when they would be able to return to their houses. Thanks to the slowdown in real estate market and bureaucratic delays, the residents are will to risk their lives rather than shift to MHADA’s transit tenements.

Anand Jetha (name changed), 64, who has seen three generations of his family live in a 100 square-feet house in Kamathipura 4th lane, said shifting to a transit accommodation was not an option. “We will rather die here than shift to transit camps (in far-off places). All our children are working nearby and we cannot afford to shift. Going to transit means no coming back as hundreds of families in Kamathipura who have shifted in the 80s are still languishing there without any hope,” said Jetha.

MHADA’s list figures buildings which are in dilapidated condition and hence pose danger to the residents. However, scores of residents like Jetha are wary of losing their houses for an indefinite period. In several cases, residents shifted to transit camps and were forced to live there for decades as redevelopment projects got stuck due to various issues such as bureaucratic delays in getting clearances for the project, tussle between landlords and tenants or builders and tenants over terms and conditions of redevelopment and delay in projects due to want of funds.

For Kamathipura residents, the cluster redevelopment project consisting of 700 buildings spread across 39 acres is getting no response from builders for several years. While both the government and MHADA is pushing for redevelopment of these dilapidated structures, the slowdown in the realty sector has only aggravated the situation. Builders rue that they are unable to take up revamp in the current slowdown.

“There is a huge liquidity crises in the market and the whole focus is to complete the existing projects in hand,” said Naresh Chheda, Managing Director, Happy Homes Projects Private Limited.

“Builders are now reluctant to take up redevelopment projects as they are not feasible anymore due to huge premiums and taxes charged by the government,” he added.

The recent non-banking financial companies (NBFC) crises have created such a problem that even sanctioned loans were cancelled or curtailed considerably, throwing the sector into disarray.

Builder also rue that despite several changes, approvals take years to come and by that time, there may be a spate of collapses.

Another problem with these dilapidated structures is the lack of maintenance of these structures, apparently due to measly rents paid by the tenants to the landlords.

“We maintain the structure to the best of our ability by spending from their own pockets despite getting very low rents. Today, the buildings are still intact due to our efforts,” said BR Bhattad, executive president, Property Owners Association.

MHADA’s Mumbai Repair and Reconstruction Board chairman Vinod Ghosalkar said the state government is making all efforts to solve this tangle.

“We are encouraging a cluster revamp model so that planned development takes place and more people can shift to new bigger homes. In addition, we are building new transit camps so that people in dilapidated structures can shift there,” said Ghosalkar.