Mumbai may see rush for slums

In the case of shanties in Dharavi,on airport land and those affected by vital infrastructure projects,the cut-off date was 2000,both for residents and their shacks.

The Maharashtra governments announcement ahead of BMC elections to expand the free housing net in Mumbai is expected to trigger a rush among investors who would want to buy slum shacks for the huge dividends they will offer when they come up for redevelopment,housing experts said.

Until now,only shanties built before the cut-off date of 1995 and residents who have been living there before the same cut-off date were eligible for free housing under the Slum Rehabilitation (SRA) scheme.

In the case of shanties in Dharavi,on airport land and those affected by vital infrastructure projects,the cut-off date was 2000,both for residents and their shacks. But in an attempt to appear like it is fulfilling a promise it made ahead of BMC elections in 2007 that the cut-off for all slums would be extended to 2000 the Congress-NCP alliance government announced on Monday that free housing would become available to anyone who purchases an eligible structure at any time,provided they can furnish proof that they have been living there for at least a year. All they are required to do is pay a transfer fee of Rs 40,000.

The latest announcement came a day before BMC elections were announced and voting set for February 16.

Slum residents will be stripped off the very protection that was available to them by virtue of not allowing them to transfer their property. Now it becomes easier for builders and middle classes investors to buy a shanty from the slumdweller…, said housing expert and former MHADA chairperson Chandrashekhar Prabhu.

A government-commissioned survey carried out by Pune-based NGO Mashal in Dharavi showed that in anticipation of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project taking off,more than 5,000 shanties were purchased by investors over four to five months in 2009 alone.