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Heritage review committee's decision spells happy times for residents, but leaves conservationists disheartened

A day after dna reported about the former state chief secretary Dinesh Afzalpurkar-ed heritage review committee's recommendation to take the heritage precinct tag off Hindu colony, part of Five Gardens area and Parsi Colony as well as Worli's BDD chawls among other individual heritage structures, residents of these areas said they are happy their homes can finally go for redevelopment after a delay of nearly three years. Once finalised by the state government, the move will affect thousands of residents in Dadar, Matunga, Parel, Lalbaug, Worli and Sion.

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A day after dna reported about the former state chief secretary Dinesh Afzalpurkar-ed heritage review committee's recommendation to take the heritage precinct tag off Hindu colony, part of Five Gardens area and Parsi Colony as well as Worli's BDD chawls among other individual heritage structures, residents of these areas said they are happy their homes can finally go for redevelopment after a delay of nearly three years. Once finalised by the state government, the move will affect thousands of residents in Dadar, Matunga, Parel, Lalbaug, Worli and Sion.

However, heritage conservation architects have expressed their displeasure with the Afzalpurkar Committee's recommendations and said it's sad that this is the third heritage precinct after Chembur and Shivaji Park area to be struck off the heritage list.

“It's great to know that the review committee has paid heed to our suggestions and freed the Hindu Colony of the heritage tag. Thankfully, redevelopment of the many old and dilapidated buildings can start now,” said Ramesh Shah, a resident of the colony.

Former deputy mayor and president of Dadar Matunga Residents' Association Babubhai Bhawanji said, “There are so many two-storey buildings in Hindu Colony which were to go for redevelopment, but couldn't because of the height restrictions imposed in heritage precincts. We have met the review committee several times to voice our objections,” he said.

Bhawanji, however, added that because of the delay the redevelopment process might be more expensive than it would have been three years ago.

“Many building owners had already entered into redevelopment agreements with builders, but after Hindu Colony featured in the proposed heritage precinct list in 2012, people didn't know what to do with those agreements and they were stuck for a long time,” he said.

In January last year, the Dadar Matunga Residents' Association had approached the Bombay high court, challenging the proposed heritage precinct listing, which includes these colonies, arguing that their buildings “do not have any heritage value” and that only certain structures should be listed as heritage structures.

The report submitted by the Afzalpurkar Committee to municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte also mentioned shrinking the heritage precinct size of the Parsi Colony up to 30 per cent, partially removing the heritage tag of certain old chawls and allowing their partial redevelopment. Many of them are located at the Dadar TT, Parel and Lalbaug.

Former Maharashtra minister for housing and NCP leader Sachin Ahir had opposed the decision to put BDD chawls in the proposed heritage list in 2012. "It is a welcome move by the committee to remove the heritage tag completely off the BDD chawls as the rooms were in a dilapidated shape. It's a win win situation for both the government and the Chawl residents. Now it's up to the government to decide if the redevelopment would be carried out by the government or private builders,” Ahir said.

However, a Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee member informed that the matter would be discussed in their next meeting, following which a decision would be taken.

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