BIT chawl tenants turn redevelopers

Decide to cut out builders, middlemen and undertake redevelopment themselves; expect to make a Rs 700-crore profit

BIT chawl tenants turn redevelopers

Decide to cut out builders, middlemen and undertake redevelopment themselves; expect to make a Rs 700-crore profit

FED up with the cheating, illegalities and threats involved in redevelopment projects by builders, tenants of the Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) Chawl in Mumbai Central have decided to take matters into their own hands.

The tenants will redevelop the chawl themselves and are expecting to make a profit of Rs 700 crore in the 1,200-crore project.

The BIT chawls in Mumbai Central that promise to bring in a lot of money for tenants

The decision was taken in an open meeting of the tenants on January 13. Social activist Medha Patkar, journalist Madhu Shetye, Comrade Narayan Ghaghre, and NCP leader Vidya Chavhan were also present.

Chandrashekhar Deshpande has been appointed to supervise the architectural aspects while noted lawyer Y P Singh will look into the legal aspects.

"We have started work on the project in full swing. We will approach companies such as Tata, Godrej and Larsen and Toubro with our proposal.
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The work will be in open hands," said Santosh Daundkar, secretary, Belassis Road BIT Chawl Seva Sangh.

There are 1, 524 tenants in the chawl, who own rooms measuring 180 sq ft each. After redevelopment, each tenant will be allotted a 500 sq ft flat with free maintenance.

Daundkar said many well-known builders had tried to bag the redevelopment contract for the chawl using muscle, money and political power, but were unsuccessful.
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A builder, Dinesh Jain, was also arrested for forging consent forms for the chawl's redevelopment.

"I welcome the residents' decision. They will make a good profit if they redevelop the chawl themselves and the project will be entirely legal.

There will be no illegalities involved, as is often the case when builders redevelop an area," said advocate Singh.