MHADA circular: Want redevelopment projects under RERA

Pic for representation

In order to ensure that developers do not harass residents by not giving them rents and possession of their houses on time, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has written to the chief minister requesting him to bring all redevelopment projects under the purview of MahaRERA. Not just this, MHADA has also issued a circular mentioning that approvals for such projects would be given within 65 to 70 days, in order to fix responsibility and prevent unnecessary delays as well.

Speaking to mid-day, Madhu Chavan, Chairman of MHADA's Mumbai Board, said, "We have been receiving a number of complaints about developers not paying rent to residents after demolishing buildings for redevelopment. Hence, to prevent such situations, these projects should be brought under the purview of MahaRERA. In this way the developers will be answerable and even the residents will not suffer. Earlier this week, I wrote to the chief minister regarding this."

Meanwhile, the housing authority has also decided that approvals for redevelopment projects would be given within 70 to 90 days. Sources revealed redevelopment of several MHADA colonies is stuck for years owing to delay in getting NOCs. According to the new circular, the applications for approvals should move from the level of executive engineer to deputy chief engineer within five days, and the entire process should be completed within a maximum of 90 days.

Officials said that from now on if an application gets stuck at a certain stage, then the official concerned would be answerable for the delay. Chavan said, "This move will reduce corruption and also ensure smoother redevelopment of MHADA colonies under the DCPR 33(5)."

MHADA seeks to complete segment of Dharavi project
Last year, the state government had directed that a single authority should complete all sectors of the Dharavi project, but as MHADA had been working on sector V of the project, it wished to complete the segment. Chavan has written to the CM, requesting him to allow MHADA to continue work and complete the segment, instead of handing it over to the Dharavi Redevelopment Authority. As part of the project, MHADA was developing five buildings, of which one is complete, and four are in progress.

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