Mumbai Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to provide permanent houses to the families of police personnel living at the Bombay Development Directorate (BDD) chawls for almost half the cost of construction at ₹50 lakh.
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray took a review meeting of the ongoing BDD Chawl redevelopment project. Following the meeting, state housing minister Jitendra Awhad said that the state would give houses to the families of 2,250 police officers as a “special case” and that Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) would bear more than half of the cost.
After the redevelopment, 2,250 tenements occupied by the families of the policemen in service, retired or residing on the compassionate ground since January 1, 2011, would be entitled to 500 sq feet flats, provided they pay for the construction cost. In all, there are 2,900 service quarters at the BDD chawls at Naigaon, NM Joshi Marg at Lower Parel and Worli. Of them, 2,250 are eligible.
Awhad said that the construction cost for one flat is between ₹1.05 crore to ₹1.15 crore. “As a special case, the government had decided to provide them with the flats for ₹50 lakh. Mhada would bear the loss,” the minister said and added that police families have lived there for four or five decades and it would have been inhuman to make them leave. In turn, MHADA will construct 2,700 police quarters.
The work on the redevelopment started in August 2021 and the project is touted as the largest redevelopment project in Mumbai with 121 buildings in Worli, 42 in Naigaon and 32 at NM Joshi Marg. The project will rebuild 500 sq ft homes and would come up in a phased manner.
According to industry standards, the average construction cost in Mumbai is ₹3000 to ₹3500 per sq ft. “For projects with average amenities and low quality material, the construction cost is pegged at ₹3000 to ₹3500 per sq feet. It can go up to about ₹5,000 per sq ft on bigger projects,” said a Mumbai-based builder requesting anonymity.