02 June,2011 06:41 AM IST | | Varun Singh
Actress has demanded that height of SRA structures be restricted to ground-plus-seven storeys to avoid unaffordable maintenance costs
After Medha Patkar's successful agitation against the redevelopment of the Golibar slums, it is the turn of Shabana Azmi to take up the cause of slum dwellers across the city. The actress, and members of her NGO Nivara Hakk, met Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and demanded that SRA buildings should not be more than ground-plus-seven storeys. They contend that buildings with more storeys result in high maintenance costs, which the slum dwellers cannot afford.
Sky-High: A 15-storey building, meant to rehabilitate slum dwellers,
at Golibar Naka. Shabana Azmi met the CM and requested him to limit
the height of such buildings to seven floors. Pic/Ashish Rane
The delegation also asked the CM to ensure that only affordable houses, and not those that are out of the common man's reach, are built on land freed up by rehabilitating slum dwellers. The reason behind this, said Azmi, is that builders get the land at subsidised rates. Azmi claimed that the meeting, held at the Sahyadri Guest House, had been a success and the CM had said that he would consider their demands.
"I had met the mayor of Washington DC a few months back and even he had said that maintenance costs go beyond the reach of slum dwellers if the building has too many storeys. I told the CM that slum dwellers are poor people and cannot afford to pay high maintenance charges and, thus, the height of their buildings should not be more than ground-plus-seven storeys," said Azmi.
"Mumbai needs affordable housing and, since the slum land is made available to the builder at subsidised rates and he doesn't have to buy it, the builder can easily make a marginal profit and sell the extra flats at affordable rates. What is the need for selling the flats at market rates when the builders are not buying the land at market rates?" said Azmi.
PK Das, Azmi's associate, said, "MHADA can do the redevelopment and provide cheaper homes. The government should also look towards builders who are ready to cut down on their profit and do the development rather than giving the contracts to profit-hungry ones."
Builders' take
Builders, meanwhile, think Azmi's demands are unrealistic. Anand Gupta, honorary treasurer, Builders'u00a0 Association of India, said, "The maintenance doesn't go up if the floors increase. In any case, all the arrangements are made by the builder in advance. The builder gives slum dwellers a corpus fund to take care of these things."
On the issue of affordable housing, Gupta said, "Expecting a builder to sell his flats at cheaper rates would be wrong. It may be possible to apply these things in the far-off suburbs, but not in the island city, where the rates are already high."u00a0Kalimuddin Shaikh, a slum dweller from Golibar, said, "Today, a slum dweller has everything from a colour television to a microwave oven. Thus, paying maintenance charges should not be a big deal."
