Announcing Maharashtra government’s new housing policy on September 2, 2016, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that it was not for the builders’ lobby but for the common man.
Regarding Mumbai, where affordable housing is an acute problem, the policy emphasises the role of redevelopment and cluster development (redevelopment of entire localities, instead of individual buildings), redevelopment of Dharavi slum, transit camps and old MHADA buildings, among others.
“If redevelopment takes place through cluster development approach, then, better facilities can be created for the common man. More than one crore of the population lives on 37% of the land mass in Mumbai, while no construction is possible on 63% of the land,” Fadnavis said, adding that “The new policy is not meant for the builders’ lobby but for the common man.”
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Fadnavis rolled out the policy at a rally in suburban Ghatkopar, along with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. Due to the ‘intransigent’ policies of Congress-NCP government, no redevelopment could take place in Mumbai in the last few years, he claimed.
Uddhav Thackeray said that the “Sena will not allow builders to indulge in changing names of localities, as has been done in some central Mumbai areas. Development of any area should be done in consultation with the municipal corporation,” he said. Thackeray also demanded that that government should take a written undertaking from builders that they will ‘not make their own laws’ while developing any land, while the CM added that the government will trace illegal Bangladeshi immigrants who are living in Mumbai.
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