At a time when the Maharashtra Housing Area and Development Authority (MHADA) is struggling with a space crunch and has barely managed to list 20-odd houses for economically weaker sections (EWS), the state may burden the authority even further
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At a time when the Maharashtra Housing Area and Development Authority (MHADA) is struggling with a space crunch and has barely managed to list 20-odd houses for economically weaker sections (EWS), the state may burden the authority even further. The state is likely to allow rehabilitation of illegal tenants residing in MHADA's 40-odd transit camps whenever their reconstruction is planned.
MHADA has identified 8,448 tenants that are residing on their property illegally. There are 22,600 tenants currently residing in the 40-odd transit camps across the city. These transit camps are located in Colaba, Kannamwar Nagar (Vikhroli), Ghatkopar, Anu-shakti Nagar, Bandra, Dahisar and Sion. The tenants that have moved out from dilapidated structures of MHADA were given shelter there.
A MHADA official said, "The policy for redevelopment of transit camps is still in draft stages and will be directly routed by the government without our knowledge. If we are asked to rehabilitate these tenants, we will have to do so."
When asked why no action has been taken against these tenants for so long, the officer said, "We don't have a huge mechanism to remove them and many of them have been identified as illegal because no documents were available with them. Many of these tenants have taken houses on rent so they are illegal."
The state is drafting the policy for redevelopment of transit camps and according to government sources, there are plans of rehabilitating even the illegal tenants that are living in these transit camps. Sumant Bhange, MHADA officer, was not available for comment.
22,600
Number of tenants in the 40-odd transit camps across the city
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