Mumbai: Dattatreya Patil, resident of Markandeshwar Slum CHS, a protected shanty neighbourhood situated on a BMC plot at Worli since 1972, is a worried man today. His hopes of securing a 300 sq feet home abutting the Coastal Road promenade are dying. Now, there is no guarantee where the authorities will give him a home.
The 175-tenement slum is to make way for a 60-feet road to be called a bus bay to access the promenade from Dr Annie Besant Road. It’s part of a plan to transform a portion of the Worli seafront but slum dwellers may end up as collateral damage.
“In 2019 we had agreed to a slum redevelopment scheme and it was even submitted to the SRA for approval. In the scheme we were to be rehoused right here but our developer along with other developers moved a proposal to amalgamate all the slum plots in the area and the BMC staff quarters plot for a bigger redevelopment scheme,” he said.
Another resident Vinaya Kambikar said they will now get homes as project affected persons (PAPs) because of the road but there is neither clarity nor guarantee where.
Gopal Sharma, a resident of Mahatma Phule Nagar, said there is a lot of pressure on them from strongmen hired by the builders to leave the area. “Ever since the coastal road has come up, several developers have started eyeing our slums. We should get our homes here, why should we go anywhere else. None of us wants to leave this place,” he said.
Activist Santosh Dhaunkar said the PM Awas Yojana scheme must be implemented in the area and residents resettled there. “By making the slum dwellers PAPs they can be relocated elsewhere and the builders stand to gain by making super luxury high rises,” he said.
Advocate Y P Singh said the new roadlines that have been marked do not have the approval of the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Authority and it was shocking the SRA has approved the project without approval from the Zone authorities.
“This is a FSI game by a coterie of builders. There is no old development plan road or any authorised structure on the seaward side of the slum, so this becomes a no construction zone under the CRZ Notification 2019. Coastal road on the seaward side of the plot has been excluded from consideration as per the notification,” he said.
Singh said if the plot is cleared of slums it would become the costliest property in Mumbai and has enormous development potential.
Mumbai: Dattatreya Patil, resident of Markandeshwar Slum CHS, a protected shanty neighbourhood situated on a BMC plot at Worli since 1972, is a worried man today. His hopes of securing a 300 sq feet home abutting the Coastal Road promenade are dying. Now, there is no guarantee where the authorities will give him a home.
The 175-tenement slum is to make way for a 60-feet road to be called a bus bay to access the promenade from Dr Annie Besant Road. It’s part of a plan to transform a portion of the Worli seafront but slum dwellers may end up as collateral damage.
“In 2019 we had agreed to a slum redevelopment scheme and it was even submitted to the SRA for approval. In the scheme we were to be rehoused right here but our developer along with other developers moved a proposal to amalgamate all the slum plots in the area and the BMC staff quarters plot for a bigger redevelopment scheme,” he said.
Another resident Vinaya Kambikar said they will now get homes as project affected persons (PAPs) because of the road but there is neither clarity nor guarantee where.
Gopal Sharma, a resident of Mahatma Phule Nagar, said there is a lot of pressure on them from strongmen hired by the builders to leave the area. “Ever since the coastal road has come up, several developers have started eyeing our slums. We should get our homes here, why should we go anywhere else. None of us wants to leave this place,” he said.
Activist Santosh Dhaunkar said the PM Awas Yojana scheme must be implemented in the area and residents resettled there. “By making the slum dwellers PAPs they can be relocated elsewhere and the builders stand to gain by making super luxury high rises,” he said.
Advocate Y P Singh said the new roadlines that have been marked do not have the approval of the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Authority and it was shocking the SRA has approved the project without approval from the Zone authorities.
“This is a FSI game by a coterie of builders. There is no old development plan road or any authorised structure on the seaward side of the slum, so this becomes a no construction zone under the CRZ Notification 2019. Coastal road on the seaward side of the plot has been excluded from consideration as per the notification,” he said.
Singh said if the plot is cleared of slums it would become the costliest property in Mumbai and has enormous development potential.