The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will purchase these houses at a cost of about INR 98.55 crore. However, the issue of cluster development of the remaining 17 chawls in the Prabhadevi area surrounding this project still remains.
According to a report by Maharashtra Times, the pre-independence Elphinstone Bridge will be demolished for the four-and-a-half-km-long Worli-Shivdi elevated road and a new double-decker bridge will be built in its place.
For this construction, two chawls, Haji Noorani and Laxmi Niwas in the Prabhadevi area, are to be demolished. Due to this, 83 of the project-affected residents (60 Laxmi Niwas and 23 Haji Noorani chawls) were offered compensation at the ready reckoner rate as per the MMRDA policy.
However, since the market price in that area was double the ready reckoner, the locals protested and stopped the construction work in April, demanding that they be paid the same amount or given a house in the same area.
Then, before the demolition of the bridge last month, Deputy Chief Minister and MMRDA Chairman Eknath Shinde decided to provide houses with 35 percent more space than the existing space to the project victims.
After that, the bridge was closed and work began on September 12. As per this decision, MMRDA will now purchase them to provide houses to 83 families. According to sources, MMRDA had initially decided to provide houses in the Kamani area of Kurla for this.
However, now it has been decided to provide these houses in the G-North, F-North and F-South wards of the Municipal Corporation. Those whose existing houses are of 300 square feet area will now get houses of 405 square feet area, as per an increase of 35 percent.
The demolition of Elphinstone Bridge has begun for this project. Currently, the main road of the bridge has been dug. The actual demolition will begin as soon as the railways approve it.
After this, a new bridge will be built at that place in two years. While the first bridge will be able to travel between Prabhadevi and Parel, the upper bridge will connect Worli and Shivdi.
The project was initially supposed to go along the Elphinstone Bridge. However, it would have required the demolition of 19 chawls in the area and its rehabilitation cost was INR 5,200 crore. Therefore, the MMRDA decided to change the design and demolish only two chawls.
However, since all the remaining 17 trucks are old, they all expressed fear of accidents due to shocks during the construction of this project during the protest. Therefore, the government has promised to develop the remaining 17 chawls through clusters.
However, as it is not clear which government agency will be given this development work, the Urban Development Department has not yet taken a decision in this regard. As a result, citizens of 17 chawls are waiting for a decision.
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