Ahead of the crucial elections to the Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation next month, the Maharashtra government on Monday took a crucial decision with regard to the eligibility of the occupiers of slums for rehabilitation with cut off date of January 1, 2000 and of those structures which have come up prior to January 1, 1995, in the city.
Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said the amount of fee would be decided soon. "This decision is a fulfilment of the promise given by the Congress-NCP during 2009 elections," he said.
Even though the Dharavi redevelopment project and the expansion of Mumbai international airport project were already declared as "vital projects", with the cut off date of January 1, 2000, this decision comes as another piece of good news for the redevelopment projects.
Occupiers were facing hurdles due to anomaly between the Maharashtra Slums Act and the Development Control Regulations over eligibility for rehabilitation. The state government today gave its approval for inclusion of a new chapter in the Maharashtra Slums Act, 1971, and modification in the Development Control Regulations, Rule 33 (10) whereby the present occupiers would be entitled for rehabilitation.
It must be mentioned here that the entire tendering process initiated by Chavan's predecessors prior to November 2010 had already been scrapped. As per the revised government decision, the state-run Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority would implement the Dharavi redevelopment by roping in contractors.
At the same time, the rehabilitation of 80,000
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