Bigger homes for slum dwellers on the cards

The government is considering the proposal to increase minimum carpet area of a tenement under the from the current 269 sq ft to 305 sq ft, sources in the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) have said.

Sources in SRA have claimed that the government is keen on this idea and for the last one year they have been studying this proposal. Currently, every slum dweller under redevelopment is entitled to a free tenement measuring 269 sq ft. Even the previous government is said to have given a serious thought on this issue.

However, the government had then hiked the area of tenements redeveloped from dilapidated building redevelopment to 305 sq ft.

Sachin Ahir, Minister of State for housing in the previous Congress-NCP government said, "We had a committee under Deepak Parekh, and it had suggested that there be larger tenement for slum dwellers and we had plans of alloting them 325 sq ft, but then as the proposal of 269 sq ft was very recent, we didn't go ahead with it."

According to senior political sources, the government is keen on announcing the hike in area of slum tenement as it will give them a boost in terms of political mileage. Meanwhile, this move if implemented, will also benefit builders as bigger homes for slum dwellers means the developers developing the project will also get extra space to sell.

"We have no issues giving larger space to slum dwellers, because, in turn, we also get a bigger area. Our share is equally proportional to the area we give to slum dweller. We will also be able to construct better homes for slum dwellers in the bigger area," said a developer from suburbs.