Redevelopment of fire-damaged bldgs gets easier

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has formulated a policy that will make it easier for the residents to undertake redevelopment of old cessed buildings damaged in fire mishaps.

The policy, formulated after a communication from the state housing department and the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) on October 10, 2022, will allow reconstruction of such buildings by its owner/residents.

Complete demolition of the building after obtaining no objection certificate (NOC) from the MHADA and fire report from the civic fire department as well as collapse report from civic and fire authorities will be mandatory for the reconstruction under the policy.

In case of cessed structures, the existing tenant list shall be certified by the MHADA office concerned, while in case of noncessed structures, the existing tenant list shall be certified by the ward office concerned. The proposal shall be for rehousing of the existing tenants only and no sale component shall be allowed.

The plot area needs to be less than 300 square metre and the abutting road needs to be a minimum nine metre-wide, according to the policy.

Most of the old buildings that will be covered under the policy have wooden frames and high chances of catching fire.

Anil Diggikar, vice-president of MHADA said, “When an old building catches fire, there are many difficulties for reconstruction and we had requested the BMC to look into the issue.” The proposal was cleared by the authorities and the policy was issued on December 7.

The proposal said that the MHADA in its letter had requested the BMC to allow repairs amounting to reconstruction in respect of buildings gutted in fire accidents instead of insisting on reconstruction under Regulation 33(6) of Development Control and Promotion rules 2034.