More than a decade after their residential buildings were demolished for redevelopment, 127 families from Vartak Nagar in Thane are still awaiting permanent homes. Their long-standing struggle received a significant development after MHADA officially acknowledged that these families have not yet been rehabilitated.
The acknowledgement was included in MHADA’s conditional approval to the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) for granting final occupation certificates to redeveloped Buildings 54, 55 and 56. MHADA clarified that any occupation certificate issued by the civic body would remain subject to the final outcome of a petition currently pending before the Bombay High Court.
In April 2025, the High Court recorded that the affected residents had not been provided permanent alternate accommodation. A final ruling in the case is still awaited.
Apart from rehabilitation, another major issue before the court is the reduction in the carpet area of the redeveloped homes. Residents claim that the originally proposed area of 581 sq ft was reduced to 300 sq ft by TMC and MHADA.
“We now hope that TMC will abide by the conditional consent given by MHADA,” said Sudhir Parab, a second-generation resident of Building 54.
Rajan Bandelkar of Unnati Estates, the developer responsible for the project, said: “Obviously, we will abide by the decision of the court.”
The dispute traces its roots to the redevelopment of Buildings 54, 55 and 56, constructed in the 1970s by the erstwhile Bombay Housing Board to accommodate project-affected persons (PAPs) and municipal employees. Of the 240 tenements, 140 were occupied by PAP families and 100 by civic staff.
Residents allege that discrepancies between the sale deed and lease deed led to PAP families being excluded from redevelopment benefits. While 13 families have accepted accommodation offered by TMC despite certain restrictions, 127 families continue to pursue what they describe as fair rehabilitation. The High Court is expected to determine their entitlement to permanent alternate housing and the validity of the revised rehabilitation conditions imposed by TMC and MHADA.
Source: Mumbai Mirror
