Mumbai: The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has launched a large-scale awareness campaign to expedite the redevelopment of 13,091 cess buildings under its Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board. Many of these aging structures have been declared unsafe, posing a serious threat to residents.
With the monsoon season approaching, MHADA is conducting urgent structural audits to mitigate the risk of collapses. “Immediate repair and redevelopment of highly dangerous buildings is critical to saving lives and preventing property loss,” said MHADA Vice President and CEO Sanjeev Jaiswal (IAS). He noted that structural reports for 540 of the 555 buildings inspected so far have already been received, and inspections for all 13,091 buildings are targeted for completion within a year.
In a bid to accelerate redevelopment, the state government has amended the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act, 1976, introducing Section 79A. This provision outlines a stepwise process for redevelopment:
- Landowners must submit a redevelopment proposal within six months, with consent from at least 51% of tenants or residents.
- If the owner fails, the tenants’ or residents’ cooperative housing society has another six months to submit a proposal with the same level of consent.
- If no proposal is submitted within this timeframe, MHADA is authorized to acquire the building and land and carry out the redevelopment.
MHADA has begun issuing official notices to housing societies, urging owners, cooperative societies, tenants, and residents to proactively pursue redevelopment and take advantage of incentives available under Development Control Regulations 33(7) and 33(9). Residents are also encouraged to contact MHADA’s Executive Engineers for further guidance.
