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Slum rehab body stalls 350 housing projects

Construction work at 350 Slum Rehabilitation Authority projects has come to a standstill.

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MUMBAI: Talk of making affordable housing available for the masses may come a cropper. Construction work at 350 Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects has come to a standstill.
 
The state has decided to revisit the eligibility list (annexure II) of all projects approved by the SRA over the last five years in the wake of irregularities found by the Anti-Corruption Bureau in September.
 
The exposé of irregularities in two multi-crore SRA schemes had led to considerable loss of face for the state.
 
Many of the projects that have been halted involve top developers and are crucial to increase the availability of housing space in the city.
 
Bhai Girkar, former MLA and convenor of the SRA Bachav Sangharsh Samiti, formed on October 20 as a result of the development, said SRA officials have stopped work at 600 sites. “The projects have been approved and have letters of intent from the authority.” The LoI is the final approval from the authority that allows the developer to start work at the site.
 
SRA chief executive Debashish Chakravarty, while admitting that 350 projects are being scrutinised, denies that work has been stopped. “After the recent exposé, we decided to revisit all ongoing projects,” he said.
 
Girkar also alleged that officials have stopped issuing permissions for development of proposals after November 1. Chakravarty admitted this: “The new housing policy will come into effect in two months. The government has proposed an overhaul of the authority. We are yet to scrutinise 500 projects on municipal and government land. The files will only pile up if we keep accepting proposals. But we are scrutinising proposals on private lands.”
 
Chakravarty said Girkar’s fears of the authority being disbanded are unfounded. “The authority has been in existence for a decade. We are committed to rehabilitate eligible slum dwellers,” he said.
 
Hint of scam trips housing plan
 
In September, the ACB found irregularities in the eligibility lists submitted by two multi-crore slum redevelopment schemes
 
The state decided to check the eligibility lists of all SRA projects approved over the last five years
 
Many of these projects involve top developers
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