Castles in the air

Vaishali Shinde, a resident of Patra Chawl in Goregaon, has been living in a one-room home with nine family members. Pics/Nimesh Dave

It's been six years since primary school teacher Kusum Hodar and her family of three moved out of their room at the Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) Chawl at Chandanwadi, Marine Lines. When they left, they were promised a 405 sq ft apartment in a high-rise in the same location by 2019. Far from receiving the keys to their new home, the monthly rent of Rs32,000, which they used to get as a cheque, stopped coming in from July 2019 onwards. Hodar was among the tenants who staged a protest at Azad Maidan on March 11, against the developers. "Our demands are simple. We want what we were promised - our monthly rent, the flat and the corpus amount of Rs 11,11,000," said Hodar, who now resides in a rented home in Kalbadevi.

Some of the residents went ahead and filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against the developers, Valencia & Mishal Ventures Pvt Ltd, in August 2020. In their petition, the residents had said that the developers had informed them that the building would be of 22 floors, but it suddenly became a 44-floor structure. While the HC granted the petitioners interim relief, the case will now be heard in the Supreme Court. Aatif Yakub, director of Valencia & Mishal Ventures Pvt Ltd told mid-day that the building was always supposed to be a 44-floor structure. Yakub's company is also constructing the 66-floor luxury residence, One Marina, whose flats are for sale in the open market starting Rs4 crore approx upwards. It offers unparalled vistas of the Arabian sea, an infinity pool, gymnasium, and a mini theatre. According to Yakub, construction work got affected due to COVID-induced lockdowns. But, residents say that work has been moving at a snail's pace since 2016. Only five floors of the building have come up as of now.

The 66-floor One Marina building comprising luxury apartments will be housed in the same compound as the redeveloped building for tenants of the Chandanwadi BIT Chawl. Pics/Bipin Kokate

Several tenants across the city are homeless because of similar redevelopment projects that are in limbo. Court cases, red tape, delays in getting permissions mean a long, inordinate wait to move into a home they can call their own.

Residents of Patra Chawl in Goregaon have been living without rent since 2016. The 672 tenants were made to evacuate the British-era building after it was declared unsafe over 15 years ago. The proposal for redevelopment was passed in 2007 by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), but it was only in 2008 that developer Guru Ashish took over this project. "They were supposed to complete [the construction] by 2011, but they didn't even put a single brick," said Makrand Parab, secretary of Patra Chawl, Goregaon. The delays, explains Parab, as stated by the developer in court "was that the residents had not evacuated, for them to begin construction".

Kusum Hodar, Makrand Parab and Prerna Bhekre

They were given an extension to complete the project by 2014. But in January 2018, the developer was terminated by MHADA. In March that same year, Ashish was arrested on charges of money laundering in the multi-crore Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank fraud case.

Some builders leave projects mid-way because the developers may have gone bankrupt, arrested, or are facing legal issues, a spokesperson at MHADA told mid-day. "The ones who suffer are tenants; they are being displaced and not receiving rent," he added.

MHADA has proposed a bill which was approved by the state, but is yet to be passed by the Centre to further amend the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Act 1976. As per the bill, MHADA will be taking over cases by acquiring the building and finishing the redevelopment project. So far, MHADA has a list of 33 such cases, which it will start working on once the bill is approved.

Tenants of the Chandanwadi BIT Chawl staged a protest at Azad Maidan on March 11, demanding action against their developer for delaying the project and for stopping their rent since 2019

The residents of Patra Chawl said that in an online address by CM Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad earlier this year, they were promised rent by March 1. The MHADA, which has taken over the project, has still not shared details about the rent amount to be paid to them, said Paresh Chavan, a resident of the chawl. Subhash and Vaishali Shinde, who live in Patra Chawl, Goregaon have been living in a one-room kitchen house nearby for the past 13 years. "We are a joint family of 10 people, including six children. Our rent is R18,000 and we have sold all our jewellery. If not for this house, we would have been on the
streets," said Vaishali.

Sanjay Gosia, one of the petitioners and resident of Chandanwadi BIT Chawl, which comprises 680 houses, said 50 per cent of the residents are below the poverty line. "Many families here have sold their jewellery, or taken a loan to pay rent. Some have gone back to their villages as they cannot afford to live in Mumbai. We've also seen cases of suicide."

The tenants were initially provided alternate accommodation at transit camps in Chembur and Kandivli, but they refused. "If we are living near Marine Lines, why should we go to these transit camps which are in poor condition?" asked Prerna Bhekre, whose family has lived in Chandwandi for generations. "Most women in our society do domestic work. There is no way they can afford to sustain themselves when they have not been paid rent," she added.

The proposal for redevelopment of Patra Chawl in Goregaon was passed in 2007 by MHADA

Jitendra Machh, a tenant, who works as a sofa-maker in Marine Lines, shifted to Virar with his wife, because he couldn't afford the steep rents. "I now pay the rent [Rs 4,000] from my own pocket and have to incur travel costs, too." On an average, he spends four hours commuting. His seven-year-old daughter, Aashna, lives with her grandmother near Chandanwadi as he didn't want to change her school. "The only time I meet her is in the morning to drop her to school and for around 30 minutes after work every day, before leaving for Virar. We have no choice."

Laxmi Bhadricha, a domestic helper and resident of the chawl, has shifted between multiple rental homes, because landlords routinely increasing their rent. She is currently living with her husband, a daily wage worker, her son and her bed-ridden father-in-law in a one-room house at Chira Bazaar. Bhadricha says she locks her father-in-law, who suffers from prostate cancer, in the house, when she goes for work.

According to data provided by MHADA, there are 19,642 cess and dilapidated buildings in the island city of Mumbai. Of these, 16,502 buildings were constructed before September 1, 1940, and a majority of these buildings are about 80 to 100 years old. Mumbai Building Repair and Reconstruction Board (MBRRB) till date has demolished 841 cess buildings and 454 new buildings have been constructed in its place. A total of 36,386 tenants/residents have been rehabilitated. The MHADA spokesperson said that "it is the responsibility of the developer to provide temporary accommodation. They usually find it in the nearby vicinity and almost 3,000 transit camps are reserved in Mumbai for this".

Mahesh Narvekar, a resident of the SRA Telligalli Society in Andheri East, has been living in a transit camp since 2003. Of the 125 tenants, 65 moved into a building with 225 sq ft homes in 2006. However, two years later, former CM Vilasrao Deshmukh had approved Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects with a minimum carpet area of 269 sq ft. Developer Winsway Infrastructure Pvt Ltd was pressurised by the tenants to follow this. Without getting a Commencement Certificate (CC), they built a 13-floor building, which received permission only for seven floors. The construction was halted in 2011, and the rent of R10,000 was stopped a year later. Narvekar says he pays the electricity and water bills, even though it was supposed to paid by the developer. "It is a 100 sq ft area. We are four people living in the house; due to limited space, my son has not been able to get married, as we don't have space to accommodate another member," he says.

What tenants need to keep in mind

.  According to advocate Bhoomi Katira, tenants should ensure there is a proper written agreement in place, registered with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA).
.  Experts say that the contract should specify what the builder is obligated to do, and the consequences the firm or tenants/housing society will face if the contract is breached by either one. Once the agreement is accepted in terms of area and corpus fund, it cannot be revised.
.  The housing society/tenants should insist on a bank guarantee, which will take care of monetary compensation to ensure the project is not delayed or stopped midway.
.  The agreement should mention one-time payment, monthly compensation of rent etc. If the builder fails to pay, the tenants have the right to stop the builder from selling units or new owners from moving in.