Are MMRDA’s rehab colonies vertical slums?

Top officials of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) often boast about the quality of their 32 rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) colonies in the city.

However, a single visit to one such colony in Oshiwara proved that the conditions in these colonies are no better than slums in Mumbai. Right to Information (RTI) activist Krishna Raj Rao and Sulaiman Bhimani have alleged that most of the 32 colonies are also not up to the mark.

DNA visited an R&R colony in Somani Gram area of Oshiwara where Skyline Construction Company of the RNA Group has constructed about 15 buildings.

Most of the occupants of these buildings are Project-Affected People (PAPs) of MMRDA’s infrastructure projects.

“These PAPs were earlier slum dwellers. However, I must say that they now stay in conditions worse than that of any slum in the city. What is agonising is that the authority has simply handed over the colonies to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in spite of admitting on record that most of them are in need of better infrastructure,” said Rao.

Bhimani, who also runs his small business from the Oshiwara colony, dug out a number of documents and correspondences using the RTI.

“A meeting between ex-chiefs of the MMRDA and the BMC [Ratnakar Gaikwad and Swadhin Kshatriya] took place in August 2010. Following this, Gaikwad wrote a letter to Kshatriya. It accepts that these colonies need funds for improvement of water supply, sewerage, street lights, solid waste collection and drainage infrastructure. If one sees our colony of 15 buildings, these facilities are simply missing,” alleged Bhimani.

Rao said: “As per the rules, the developer has to provide for all these above mentioned facilities before giving possession to the residents. Our visits to most of the colonies suggest that this rule has been overlooked. As per our estimates, each colony needs about Rs20 crore to fulfil the infrastructure-related obligations. This amounts to a goof-up of Rs640 crore [32 colonies in various parts of the city].”

The two further alleged that the developers have snatched 2.5 FSI for their commercial constructions.

MMRDA spokesperson Dilip Kawathkar agreed that providing this kind of infrastructure is the authority’s obligation. “However, if there are any particular complaints about violations, the authority will take action against the developers concerned,” said Kawathkar.

According to a spokesperson of RNA Corp, the developer constructed 14 buildings for PAPs. These were handed over to the MMRDA in 2006. “We also got an occupation certificate from the MMRDA for the same,” said the spokesperson in a written communication.

He, however, did not mention anything about the lack of infrastructure.