Towards a slum-free Mumbai SRA announces relaxations

The Maharashtra State Housing Ministry on Thursday announced a series of relaxations in its slum redevelopment policy to ensure faster availability of housing for slum dwellers in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

Addressing a web press meet, State Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad announced that various premiums related to slum redevelopment projects have been relaxed by way of reductions and deferred payments.  Along with the premium relaxations, the approvals timeline has been drastically reduced at all stages by Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), which is the nodal agency under the Housing Ministry to implement the slum redevelopment scheme.

Stating that the relaxation in various SRA premiums and reduction in approval timeline are targeted to achieve a slum-free Mumbai at the earliest, he added that the new premium structure would also ensure clubbing of SRA projects in city zones which were stalled owing to non-feasibility factor.

He further stated that the revised timeline of the approvals structure at various stages including LOI would result in more than 50 per cent reduction in timeline compared to the previous timeline practiced by SRA.

Along with the relaxation in premiums and timeline, all SRA projects would be empowered with health centres; authorised committee to relocate religious structures within the project; online approval (auto DCPR) mechanism like MCGM and committed continuity in construction of rehabilitation buildings which can only be stopped by specific high court orders.

Highlighting the key purpose of the current relaxations in SRA guidelines, Mr Awhad remarked that the latest relaxations is an outcome of series of discussions with all stakeholders, post suggestions and objections, which has been further pushed by the current Covid-19 pandemic environment in MMR.

“The state decision to push SRA development is also keeping in view the city’s readiness to tackle any future pandemics such as Covid-19. As we continue to battle the Covid-19 virus, Mumbai has witnessed an alarming ratio of Covid-19 cases across the slums and a proper housing environment will be the key to safeguard lives and prevent any community spread of such diseases going forward”,  he remarked.

The series of measures undertaken by SRA has also capped the rental amount structure, during the rehabilitation phase, to Rs 1.2 lakh and Rs 96,000 per annum in the city and suburbs zones respectively.