The Mishra family has lived in a 220-square-foot room in a housing community in Kalachowkie in Parel for three generations. Radheshyam Mishra moved in with his family of seven in 1991 when he was 32 years old. Although it was difficult, the Mishras were glad to live in a city with some of the priciest real estate in the world.
Discussions on redevelopment started in 2000 when Abhyudaya Nagar’s 48 buildings started to exhibit noticeable ageing. Three unsuccessful attempts were made in the colony between 2006 and 2014 due to issues with developers, one of whom was arrested in connection with the 2G spectrum dispute.
The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) constructed Abhyudaya Nagar, which spans 33 acres, in the 1960s to accommodate industrial workers. Abhudaya Nagar is poised to make history, giving the 15,000 residents of this colony hope after an arduous battle to have their homes renovated. If all goes according to plan, it would be among the first housing developments in Mumbai to be redeveloped under the state’s redesigned and incredibly ambitious Cluster Development Policy.
The rehabilitation of Abhyudaya Nagar is similar to the fate of hundreds of dilapidated MHADA structures in Mumbai. To provide cheap housing, the Housing Board was founded in the 1970s. Today, it controls 114 properties throughout the city, some of which are colonies that span many city blocks. Additionally, MHADA is in charge of repairing and rebuilding 19,642 abandoned, decaying structures, the majority of which date back to the colonial era. Furthermore, since 1948, MHADA has owned 2.25 lakh residences in Mumbai that were constructed under several housing projects.
For the 1.5 lakh inhabitants who reside in 388 MHADA buildings in places like Colaba, Girgaon, Mumbadevi, Byculla, Sewri, Prabhadevi, and Mahim, the future is equally unknown. Constructed during the British era, these structures began to deteriorate in the 1960s and 1970s. 900 of them were demolished after the state government turned them over to MHADA for reconstruction. These solitary, rehabilitated buildings, each housing 80–100 apartments, are now again in disrepair, but the advantages of the initial reconstruction process have been exhausted. No housing authority has bothered to solve this dilemma.
Source: Hindustan Times
