Maha govt redeveloping 1,000-acre Mumbai layouts to improve livability: CM Fadnavis

The government of Maharashtra is undertaking redevelopment projects spread over at least 1,000 acres across Mumbai through the redevelopment of various ageing housing layouts, a move aimed at improving the city’s ease of living and overall livability, said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The projects involve the renewal of several older residential clusters Abhyuday Nagar, Adarsh Nagar, Motilal Nagar, Punjabi Sindhi Colony, GTB Nagar, SVP Nagar, and Kamathipura which comprise ageing housing layouts that have housed working and middle-class families for decades.

All of these will be developed through the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) through construction and development agencies. GTB Nagar is a private layout for which MHADA is expected to act as the planning authority.


“These are areas where residents have been facing difficulties due to ageing buildings. Through redevelopment, they should receive proper homes with ownership rights,” Fadnavis said, adding that the government’s focus is on improving housing conditions for lower- and middle-income residents.

He noted that for decades many residents who aspired to own homes in Mumbai were forced to move to distant suburbs such as Kalyan, Dombivli, Ambernath and Bhiwandi due to high property prices and limited supply within the city.

According to him, the state government has taken a policy view that long-time Mumbai residents should be able to own homes within the city itself, as they play a key role in preserving its social and cultural fabric.

Fadnavis was speaking while handing over keys to over 864 residents of the BDD Chawls in central Mumbai’s Naigaon as part of the ongoing redevelopment project.

Over one-third of the planned housing units under the redevelopment of BDD Chawls is expected to be delivered by the end of this year, with nearly 3,000 rehabilitation homes ready for handover, said Sanjeev Jaiswal, Vice President and CEO, MHADA.

Originally built in the 1920s by the British-era Bombay Development Department, the chawls were designed as compact tenements to house migrant and mill workers arriving in the city for industrial jobs. Spread across South and central Mumbai’s Worli, Naigaon, N M Joshi Marg and Sewri, the cluster comprises over 200 buildings that have housed generations of working-class families for nearly a century.

The ongoing redevelopment, spearheaded by the state government through MHADA, is among Mumbai’s most ambitious urban renewal initiatives.

Referring to the redevelopment of the historic BDD Chawls, he said the precinct houses a large number of police personnel, some of whom have lived there for three to four decades across two generations.

The state government changed its stance before the Bombay High Court in 2015 to support granting ownership rights to police personnel residing in the BDD chawls as part of the redevelopment.

According to him, around 2,901 police personnel were eligible for housing, of which 2,353 are being accommodated, while 233 beneficiaries are receiving them at construction cost.

However, about 315 cases remain unresolved due to ongoing legal proceedings. Fadnavis said the government is working to find a resolution and may need to frame a comprehensive housing policy for police personnel, as similar demands may arise from officers posted in other parts of the city.