Mumbai: The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) on Tuesday announced that it will provide a monthly rent of ₹20,000 to the tenants of its dangerously dilapidated cessed buildings in Mumbai for alternate accommodation while they are reconstructed.
During a pre-monsoon survey, the Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board, a unit of Mhada, had declared 96 cessed buildings in the island city as dangerous structures. There are 13,091 cessed buildings in the island city in total.
A cessed building is a rent-controlled property subject to a cess or tax collected by Mhada. The cess, paid by the tenants, is typically used for repairs and reconstruction of old and dilapidated buildings.
The decision to provide rent for the alternate accommodation was announced by Mhada vice president Sanjeev Jaiswal. He has also instructed the Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board to issue a public advertisement for leasing 400 transit tenements, measuring between 180 sq ft and 250 sq ft, through external agencies for a period of three years, officials said. These units will be provided on a rental basis to accommodate the tenants and residents of the 96 dangerously dilapidated buildings. There are 2,577 residential and 585 non-residential tenants living in these buildings, officials added.
Due to the urgent need to relocate these residents to safe premises, the board requires immediate access to temporary housing facilities. At present, there are only 786 transit tenements available, officials said, making it unfeasible to accommodate all the affected residents. This was why Jaiswal approved an interim arrangement to ensure alternative housing support is made available within Mumbai, according to a Mhada press note.
All expenses incurred under both provisions—monthly rent and the lease of transit units through external agencies, including maintenance—will be recoverable from private developers or cooperative housing societies undertaking the redevelopment of the cessed properties, the press note said.
The board manages 20,591 transit tenements in total, which provide temporary accommodation for tenants and residents evacuated from buildings due to structural repairs, collapse, redevelopment constraints due to narrow plots, or demolition linked to road widening. Last month, the board issued eviction notices to 184 residential tenants, three of whom shifted to the transit camps, the note added.