Maharashtra housing authority takes over Mumbai chawl revamp project

The Maharashtra Housing and Area Developmental Authority (MHADA) on Thursday took over the controversial Patrawala chawl redevelopment project, due to the failure of the current builder to execute this project.

“We have taken possession of this project,” said Vaishali Wagh, Public Relations Officer, MHADA. MHADA will now appoint a Project Management Consultant (PMC) and contractors for the project.

MHADA is yet to get possession of those parts which were sold by Guruashish Builders, the subsidiary of Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL), to seven different builders. These seven builders - Bhoomi Shashwat Estate, RNA NG Infra, Ekta Everglade Homes, Kiyana Ventures, KBJ Developers, First Infra and Pinky Skyscrapers - have moved the Bombay High Court against MHADA’s move to acquire the project.

MHADA is the owner of the plot. In 2007, it allowed Guruashish to redevelop and rehabilitate 675 chawl tenants. However MHADA received complaints that he had sold the project to various builders and pocketed a handsome amount.

In November last year, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis while convening a meeting of the affected residents lost his temper and said the residents were being taken for a ride. He also rapped MHADA for submitting a misleading report of 85% of the work completed and directed the body to suspend DK Mahajan, executive engineer (MHADA), Goregaon division.

A recent report by housing secretary Sanjay Kumar found an error in the calculation of Patrawala Chawl area caused losses to the tune of Rs474 crore.

BJP legislator Prasad Lad, then chairman of MHADA’s repair and reconstruction board, had revealed that a MHADA internal inquiry concluded that the authority had suffered a loss of approximately Rs1,000 crore, owing to the project.