Cluster development more bang than buck in Mumbai

After the recent nods to redevelopment of Chira Bazaar and Bhendi Bazaar, cluster development is being touted as the ideal solution for Mumbai’s crumbling housing infrastructure. However, the first such project to have taken off in the city is still mired in red-tape and faces the threat of being shelved altogether, thanks to a partisan government policy and reluctance on part of the bureaucracy to clear files.

The 6,000 occupants of Parel’s Haji Kasam Chawls now fear that their dream of living in a decent dwelling may turn into a nightmare, as the structures they are living in are way past their due date and any further delay in redeveloping them could prove disastrous.

When the project was approved in 2009, the 800 families and occupants of 84 commercial structures in the erstwhile Islam Mills compound thought life was about to take a joyous turn.

“As mill workers, we contributed immensely to the growth of Mumbai. But today, we are facing a bleak future,” said Dhonduram Jadhav, secretary of Haji Kasam Residents’ Association, and added that unless the government shows urgency, their tenements might collapse. “We hope the CM will save the day for us, without waiting for a disaster to occur at our chawls,” Jadhav said.

At the core of the issue is a government policy that allows various concessions to standalone projects, but literally penalises the holistic and integrated cluster project. Far from giving additional incentives for cluster redevelopment, even the basic entitlements and incentives of development control rule 33 (7) that governs standalone developments are not extended to DCR 33 (9), under which cluster redevelopment falls.

“We fear that if the policy is not suitably amended in time, even our developer may abandon the project due to unfeasibility,” said Deepak Tulaskar, treasurer of the residents’ association, adding that the dismal state of other cluster redevelopment projects is a testimony to the state of affairs. Of the 48 cluster redevelopment proposals submitted to the government, only three have been okayed, of which two have already derailed.

“Ours is the only project to be executed in a serious manner and the government should do all it can to encourage it, not only for our sake, but also to set an example for others,” Jadhav said.
Meanwhile, the developers of the project, Avighna India, are hopeful that requisite corrective measures will be taken by the government to allow smooth execution of the project.

“This project will give hope to lakhs of Mumbaikars staying in crumbling homes,” said developer Kailash Agarwal of Avighna.
Mumbai has about 19,500 chawls that have been declared dangerous, and most of them have also been certified as irreparable.