Complaints have been made to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) regarding unapproved rehabilitation requests for certain occupants of buildings included in the massive Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment project.
Amin Patel, a Mumbadevi member of the Legislative Assembly, recently wrote to MHADA to resolve cases that had been put on hold for a variety of reasons. The largest urban regeneration project in Mumbai, spanning 16.5 acres, is being carried out by the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), an organisation established by the Dawoodi Bohra community. About 250 structures, including 3200 apartments and 1250 stores, will be redeveloped as part of the project, and the area will be transformed into a collection of 11 multi-story buildings with open areas and amenities like renewable energy.
Regarding the cases, MHADA remained silent. SBUT stated that MHADA had placed the cases of specific tenants in the project on hold. “This is mainly because, in the majority of cases, their names were not approved at the time of certification due to the lack of required documents, which resulted in the withholding of their title clearance,” the SBUT representative stated.
Concerns have been raised regarding a Ready-Mix Concrete (RMC) cement plant in the complex in a case filed in the Bombay High Court. The appeal was submitted by Jama Masjid trustee Shuiab Khatib, who complained to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation about the plant’s proximity to a school.
The petition claims that the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board’s regulations were broken by the cement mill. The petition said that because the cement plant poses a serious risk to air quality, it was obviously illegal to establish it in a residential area.
Source: The Free Press Journal
