MLA Amin Patel suggests building transit camps in MbPT areas to expedite redevelopment
@hepzia
Mumbai: The 111 residents of the dilapidated Mishra building in Nagpada, a part of which collapsed on August 27, have refused to shift to transit camps and wanted to continue to stay in that building. Two persons were killed when a portion of the ground plus 2 storied Mishra building collapsed on Thursday afternoon.
“The residents insisted that since only a particular portion of the building had collapsed they should be allowed to stay in the other part of the building that was still intact. The fire brigade and civic authorities had to disconnect the electricity and water supply to get the residents to vacate the dilapidated building. The residents are reluctant to shift to transit camps since they are located in distant suburbs like Borivali, which is far away from their schools and offices,” member of legislative assembly Amin Patel told thenews21.com.
The three-time Congress MLA from Mumbadevi constituency, is an old hand at witnessing the crumbling of dilapidated buildings, a predominant issue in his area and is aware about how eventually pan out. “The residents have currently shifted locally around the area. After the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) assess the building, it will cite lack of funds to repair the building.
The tenants and landlords too will be unable to repair the building. With no one willing to repair the building, eventually the tenants will shift back into the building,” he observes.
Patel, who was part of an eight-member MLA committee to study dilapidated buildings, said that there were about 16,000 dilapidated buildings in Mumbai including about 14,000 cessed buildings under MHADA.
Patel has proposed that since the existing transit camps in the city are full, the government should build transit camps in the land owned by the Mumbai Port Trust to expedite the process of redevelopment of dilapidated buildings. The transit camps, that are meant to house the residents of dilapidated buildings till their structures are redeveloped, have been gradually shifted from the town areas like Colaba, Sion, Pratiksha Nagar to suburbs like Bandra, Seepz and further down to Borivali.
