Devendra Fadnavis plans to use Cluster Development to rehabilitate the slums on the property of the Mumbai Airport

The cluster development strategy will be used to redevelop the slum at the same location in an effort to free up the much-needed area that is currently occupied by slums and ease the operations of Mumbai airport. In a debate in the state assembly about the current deteriorating conditions of Mumbai's infrastructure and the slow pace of slum redevelopment and rehabilitation, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the housing portfolio, announced that this would become a part of the land free that would be transferred to the airport.

 

What slums will be rebuilt first and how much vacant land can be given to the airport's operating company, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), were not specifically mentioned by Fadnavis. However, a senior housing department official informed the Free Press Journal, "The government will pick which slums will be taken up for reconstruction after talks with the MIAL and Airport Authority of India.

 

Slums are typically found in the aviation zone, on property that is intended for the building of a rehabilitation component and on property that the airport operator has designated for commercial exploitation. Slums outside of these three categories, however, might not currently be taken into consideration for cluster development.

 

The airport in Mumbai is spread out over 1,981 acres, of which approximately 1,169 acres (or 58%) are used for runways, terminal buildings, and aircraft hangars. 15.58%, or around 308 acres, of the land, has been encroached upon, while 7% of it is unoccupied or undeveloped. A total of 80,000 slum families live on 276 acres of the airport's 1,875 acres of land at this time.

 

With Fadnavis's declaration, a new beginning has been made, according to BJP lawmaker Parag Advani, who has been advocating for the rebuilding of the slums located on the airport site since 2004. During the previous two and a half years, there had been no activity. ‘’ The government had proposed a Situ reconstruction using land as a resource with private engagement for delivering houses to qualified slum residents during the tail end of the Fadnavis-led government (between 2014 and 2019). This approach would have allowed MIAL to transfer 65 acres of property for In Situ rehabilitation, but it also would not have allowed it to proceed.

 

 

 

Image Courtesy: Twitter @Dev_Fadnavis