Urban News

The Hindu  01.11.2010

Chavan also charged with irregularities in slum rehabilitation projects

Staff Reporter

MUMBAI: Months before the Adarsh Society scam blew up, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan came under fire for another land scam allegation made by Eknath Khadse, Bharatiya Janata Party member and Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly.

Mr. Khadse rocked the Assembly this July by hauling up Mr. Chavan with allegations of a Rs.50,000 crore-scam in Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects.

He pointed to alleged irregularities in projects by developers Akruti City Limited and Ruchi Priya in the Royal Palms Estate and land belonging to the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited. Among documents sourced by Mr. Khadse under the Right to Information Act is a letter from Congress MP Gurudas Kamat, Secretary of the Department of Housing, Maharashtra, which calls for cancelling the development permission given to Akruti builders.

“There are some major discrepancies and deviations on the law in this order [dated June 26, 2009] granting complete rights to Akruti City Limited…There is great resentment against the developer because of shoddy constructions recorded in SRA projects elsewhere, and people have been resisting any survey being carried out by the said Akruti City Limited,” states the letter, a copy of which is with The Hindu.

In July 2009, Akruti approached the government with a proposal for the development of a Special Township Project under section 3K, which requires development on 40 hectares. However, Akruti's proposal was only for 26 hectares. Despite this, the builder's proposal was accepted by the Chavan government.

Hindustan Times  29.10.2010

Slumdwellers living on reserved (government, civic) plots across the city will be rehabilitated by the state government, in a joint venture between the Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority (Mhada) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The Central government’s BSUP (Basic Services for Urban Poor) scheme will support the venture. The decision was made after it was found that builders were not rehabilitating these slum dwellers as they had a high density of population.

The plots that the slums have encroached upon, because of the civic body’s negligence, are those reserved for playgrounds, recreation grounds, schools and other public amenities.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, Sachin Ahir, state minister for housing, said BSUP, which has had great success in clearing slums across the state, would be introduced in the city.

“The advantage of the scheme is that most encroached reserved plots would be freed and slum dwellers will move to decent dwellings,” Ahir said. Also, unlike other slum rehabilitation projects, where houses are given free of cost, here slum dwellers have to contribute 10% of the total cost of their tenements. The first project is likely to be finalised for either Dhobi Ghat in Mahalaxmi or the Andheri slums.

“Another advantage of the BSUP scheme is that it has no cut-off date and all slum dwellers get new apartments,” he added.

BSUP projects are restricted to rehabilitating slum dwellers, and unlike the slum rehabilitation projects, no new dwellings are added.

Social activist Simpreet Singh, of Ghar Banao Ghar Bachao Andolan, called it a good model of housing. “Here there is no profiteering and slumdwellers pay for their houses,” said Singh. The organisation has submitted a proposal for the  revamp of a slum at Mankhurd under BSUP.

The BSUP was introduced in December 2005 to provide a holistic slum revamp project, which includes decent shelter and basic infrastructure facilities to slum dwellers.

Here 50% of the cost is borne by the Centre, 30% by the state, 10% by the BMC and the balance 10% by the slum dweller.

The BSUP scheme has been implemented in places like Pimpri-Chinchwad (4,930 houses), Pune (6,000) and Nanded (26,360) and has been a success.