Cessed building residents demand 500 sq ft houses

The state government's decision to give houses of 500 sq ft under the BDD redevelopment scheme has ended up impacting other redevelopment projects of cessed buildings.

According to a senior MHADA official, the Maharashtra government decided to give houses of 500 sq ft carpet area to BDD tenants against their existing homes of 180 sq ft. "Residents and tenants of cessed buildings are asking for similar houses of 500 sq ft carpet area against their existing 350 sq ft homes in cluster and individual cessed building redevelopment projects," said the MHADA official.

Amin Patel, Congress MLA, commented that it's because of such short-sighted decisions by the government that development comes to a grinding halt. "We cannot have separate norms for the same development. It will be an injustice to residents of cessed buildings if they are denied the 500 sq ft houses. I will write to the chief minister and apprise him of the conditions," said Patel.