State will issue new GR for BDD redevp project
The state government is set to form a new Government Resolution (GR) for Bombay Development Directorate (BDD) chawl owners to undertake their redevelopment project work. This move came after Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) failed to meet the demands of additional corpus funds, proper agreement signed with builder and no proper law in transfer of chawl rooms in BDD which were raised by the chawl owners.
In last week of January, the chawl owners in Naigaon and N M Joshi Marg opposed the biometric survey being conducted to find out the eligible chawl owners for the redevelopment work.
“The biometric survey is not applied to us as we have been staying in these buildings since past several decades. The Public Works Department (PWD) has the registered record of names and number of rooms in BDD which can be used as reference to find out the eligible owners. Hence, we opposed to conduct the biometric survey,” said Raju Waghmare, President of All BDD Chawl Owners Organisation.
The current resolution states that owners must produce documents of their ownership if they have been staying in BDD before 1996. “It is difficult to produce such proof by the chawl owners and the important documents are with the PWD. We request MHADA authorities to refer those documents,” said another member from Chawl Owners Organisation.
The members from chawl owners organization also said they need a legal document stating that they would be rehoused in a redeveloped structure.
“We have not been provided with a signed agreement which states our consent for redevelopment. It is important that the authorities sign an agreement for the redevelopment work,” added Waghmare. The owners also demanded a corpus funds between Rs 17 to Rs 25 lakh for maintenance of BDD chawls. “The authorities first agreed to pay Rs 1 lakh as corpus funds to the BDD chawl owners. Later, the authorities changed to Rs 5 lakh. The authorities have not been able to state a fixed corpus amount,” added Waghmare.
The MHADA authorities said that the survey would be conducted once the nee GR is issued by the government. “We faced opposition from chawl owners in Naigaon area due to some political issues. Hence, a new government resolution is being prepared for conducting survey in this area,” said a MHADA official.