What's more, even the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has agreed to accept their proposal. The property in question is a Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) chawl.
Redevelopment is DIY (Do It Yourself) stuff. Over 1,000 residents from a Mumbai Central chawl are getting ready to show us all how. When they do it, it will be real-estate history.
Fed up with dubious developers, cheating, forgery and delays, the residents have decided to redevelop the Bellasis Road property on their own.
What's more, even the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has agreed to accept their proposal. The property in question is a Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) chawl.
"We have been struggling with developers for almost a decade. So, we thought of this move. We will submit our proposal to the BMC soon, along with the consent of residents," said activist Santosh Daundkar of the BIT Chawl Seva Sangh. The residents have called for a special general body meeting on Sunday.
Most of the 1,074 tenants, occupying 19 buildings, have lived here for generations and don't want to leave the prime locality.
"Of the 19, three buildings are occupied by policemen and three others by BMC staffers. Once we get formal approval, we will go for tendering and redevelop the property in a transparent manner. Each tenant will also get a corpus fund of around Rs 6 lakh. We will appoint a top firm to undertake the redevelopment," Daundkar said. Normally, when a developer undertakes redevelopment, tenants only get a bigger flat and no profits. In this case, the redevelopment firm will only charge a flat rate, leaving the profits for the tenants.
Right now, there are common toilets on each floor.
After redevelopment, each tenant, owning a 180 sq-ft room, will get a one-room self-contained flat of 500 sq ft.
The residents are aided by structural engineer Chandrashekhar and IPS-officer-turned-lawyer YP Singh, who will look after the legal aspects.
"Tenants can even make a good profit if they redevelop the chawl themselves. There will be no illegalities or irregularities, which is, usually, the case when developers step in," Singh said.
BMC officials said that a society of residents could redevelop a chawl. "The redevelopment will happen under Section 33(7) of the Development Control Rules. If their proposal fits the bill and gets 70% consent, they can redevelop. However, other developers will also be eligible. It will be open to all," said Kishore Kshirsagar, deputy municipal commissioner (estates).
The redevelopment of the massive complex has been mired in controversy, with allegations of corruption and bogus documents being raised.
"Redevelopment of other BIT chawls is also stuck due to developers," said Daundkar.
"If our project is successful, it will set a new trend. Tenants in other societies will also go for self-redevelopment, instead of being at the mercy of developers," he said.
Hope developers are listening.
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