Mumbai: Jawaharlal Nehru gave first house key to residents in area

Motilal Nagar is spread over 142 acres of land, and there are three different parts in it. The total tenements in this area currently stand at 3,700. According to Nilesh Prabhu, Joint Secretary of Motilal Nagar Vikas Samiti, around 1960's the then Prime Minister of the country Jawaharlal Nehru visited here and handed over the first key to a resident and named the area as Motilal Nagar, since then this huge parcel of land located in Goregaon West was called as Motilal Nagar.

All the tenements here are row houses which are ground plus one storey structures. "Originally around 26 sq mt of tenements were allotted to the residents who were later also allowed to have an FSI of 45 sq mt by paying a fee," says Prabhu.

According to residents of Motilal Nagar, since the start, the homes provided to them were that were self-contained, which means toilets and bathrooms were inside the house, not a common one. "I am married for 32 years now and have been residing at this house, my husband and his family have been staying here even before that. What I remember our row houses never had common toilets, we always have individual ones located inside the house. We are also eagerly waiting for the redevelopment of the area," said Pooja Dave, a resident.

Currently, most of the homes that are row houses are ground plus one storey structure and many, if combined both the parts, range way above 1,000 sq ft homes.

Motilal Nagar which is divided into three main parts has five to six playgrounds, and recreational areas in every part, thus allowing the residents to open space in abundance.

According to an earlier report in DNA, to rehabilitate these existing residents, MHADA will require around 18 lakh sq ft of land. After the rehabilitation, the body will get an additional 1.20 crore lakh sq ft of land. The total expense that MHADA foresees for redeveloping Motilal Nagar and for constructing homes meant for sale, is around Rs 5,000 crore. However, by selling off 18,000 homes, the housing authority expects to earn a revenue of Rs 25,000 crore. The 18,000 homes that will be sold by MHADA are expected to be one-BHKs.