Sawant’s appeal to President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes days after the collapse of a residential building in Malwani left 12 people dead.
Sawant’s letter comes days after a building crash in Malwani claimed 12 lives. Pic/Anurag Ahire
Former Union minister Arvind Sawant says a favourable decision will pave the way for repair or redevelopment of thousands of creaky cessed buildings in Mumbai
Shiv Sena leader and former Union minister Arvind Sawant has appealed to the Centre to clear an amendment to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act to protect the interests of residents of dilapidated and “cessed” buildings by allowing either repair or redevelopment of such structures.
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Sawant’s appeal to President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes days after the collapse of a residential building in Malwani left 12 people dead.
A bill amending the MHADA Act, 1976, was passed in September 2020 by the Maharashtra legislature. “Since the bill passed by both houses of the state legislature is pending for your (the Centre's) approval, the state government is not in a position to carry out either repairs or redevelopment of these buildings,” said the former Union minister.
Sawant said after the June 9 building collapse in Malwani, the Bombay High Court suo motu (on its own) ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident.
“This proves how essential is the approval to the amendment of the Act and how the Act is important as lives of citizens living in such structures are at stake,” the Sena MP said.
Sawant said the amendment will allow MHADA to acquire land and such buildings and complete their development if left incomplete by the developer. The bill says at least 51 per cent of residents of such buildings have to agree to redevelopment and also provides compensation to the owner of the land/building, he said.
There are nearly 16,000 cessed buildings in Mumbai, the Sena leader said. Cessed buildings are old tenanted properties (built before 1969) whose residents are required to pay a cess to MHADA for maintenance of their structures.
Some of these cessed buildings are on the land of Mumbai Port trust, NTC and other organisations that do not repair or redevelop them. They don’t even allow government authorities like MHADA to carry out redevelopment, Sawant said.
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