MUMBAI: The long awaited redevelopment of the city's Bombay Development Directorate (BDD) chawls finally got off the ground Thursday.
Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) conducted a lottery to allot apartments to eligible tenants of the old, dilapidated structures in Lower Parel.
However the construction of the buildings is yet to begin.
The entire project constitutes the largest resettlement undertaking in the country given the sprawl of these old buildings in South Mumbai.
This particular lottery was drawn for 272 tenants of the five hectare BDD Chawl plot at NM Joshi Marg, Lower Parel.
They have been granted transit accommodation until their structures are rebuilt.
A total of 2,560 residents live in 32 chawls in this location.
So far 607 tenants out of 800 living in ten chawls have been deemed eligible for resettlement.
Residents S Nandgaonkar and one Kesarkar became the first winners of the computerised draw and were felicitated at the event.
Political luminaries led by urban and city guardian ministers Aaditya Thackeray and Aslam Shaikh, state housing minister Jitendra Awhad, mayor Kishori Pednekar and senior Mhada officers attended the draw that was held at the housing board headquarters in Bandra (East).
Thackeray said the redevelopment marked a milestone in the history of the BDD chawls that have sheltered two or three generations of each family.
He said the construction would be of high quality and would be completed in a timely manner.
Awhad expressed the hope that the bhoomipujan of the resettlement would take place within 15-20 days.
He said to TOI, "The project was delayed because people had lost faith in the government. They insisted that the allotment and flat details be embedded in their agreement and now their faith has been restored because we are doing so."
Awhad said Mhada held the distinction of being the biggest landowner in the city.
"Still, land stocks are fast depleting. Given the needs of the city's population we are bringing new provisions whereby Mhada can engage in joint ventures with private land bankers to develop low cost housing for the public as our predecessors envisaged. Ideally the plan is to develop a bank of 5,000 acres in the MMR region in the next five years," he said.
He said the historic BDD chawls are the oldest and largest settlements in the city. As a result, their redevelopment is the largest resettlement project in the country.
This lottery was to have been conducted in March 2020 but was postponed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.