MHADA not ready with building repairs policy

MUMBAI: Despite a Bombay High Court (HC) directive, the Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA) has still not framed a concrete policy to carry out repairs of the cess buildings in the city.
Subsequently, the fate of 20,000 cess buildings and the lives of hundreds of families residing in these dilapidated buildings continue to be on stake.
The order was issued by the HC on April 30, 2004 in response to a petition filed by Gerald Coelho, a resident of Clare Road Byculla. The MHADA counsel G S Mattos assured a bench comprising Justices A P Shah and Abhay Oka that the policy will be formulated within 12 weeks.
State housing minister Dr Sayyed Ahmed told TNN on Thursday that a meeting would be convened shortly after the session. "The meeting will be held next week and I will direct the concerned officials to frame the policy within a fortnight," Ahmed said.
This year, the pre-monsoon inspection survey done by the Repair and Reconstruction Board, Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and Fire Brigade has pointed out 32 extremely dangerous buildings.
MHADA vice-president A Ramakrishnan told TNN on Thursday that they are still in the process of framing the policy for repairs of cess buildings. "A fortnight ago, we appointed a committee comprising two chief engineers, architect and legal advisors," Ramakrishnan said.
He said the official list shows 20,000 cess buildings. "But the actual figures will be quite high because it not possible to record each and every cess buildings in the city."
According to Ramakrishnan, the cost of repairs for cess buildings per square feet is a meagre Rs 100. "People residing in these cess buildings should not expect to have a brand new building after the repairs. They should be a tri-party agreement between the contractor/architect and occupants or owner of the cess building to ensure quality of repairs," Ramakrishnan said.
The HC has directed MHADA to carry out the repair works of the old buildings in accordance with the latest technology available from time to time. The court asked MHADA to draw up guidelines on selection of architects, contractors and materials to repair the cess buildings within the prescribed statutory limits.
Ahmed said he had instructed the residents to vacate dilapidated buildings. "We can''t let people die in dilapidated buildings. Some of the cess buildings are beyond repairs. We will have to reconstruct them."
Ahmed said they have earmarked Rs 60 crore toward reconstruction of old dilapidated buildings. "A plan of Rs 40 crore has already been submitted to the state government", Ahmed averred. The 20,000 cess buildings that fall under RRB''s jurisdiction are spread from Colaba to Mahim and Sion.