Cong to woo Mumbai slum-dwellers with bigger flats

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, March 26

The Congress party is preparing to woo Mumbai’s slum-dwellers with the promise of a one bedroom/ hall/kitchen flat measuring 500 square feet each.

“Say goodbye to one room/kitchen. Its now time for a 1BHK flat for everyone,” say posters put out by the Congress party in different slum areas of Mumbai. 

Earlier this month, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said at a rally that the Congress would redevelop slum clusters in Mumbai under a scheme under which a flat measuring a minimum of 500 sq ft would be provided to every slum dweller. 

Under existing schemes in Mumbai, residents of slum clusters going in for redevelopment are being provided flats measuring 269 sq ft in size. Builders who undertake redevelopment of slum clusters are expected to provide free flats for residents while recovering their construction costs from the selling additional flats in the open market.

Mumbai Congress party leaders at a meeting today said the party’s campaign in the city would centre around providing bigger houses for slum dwellers in the city. “Affordable housing for all and the Minimum Income Guarantee Scheme announced by Rahul Gandhi would be our main campaign themes,” Milind Deora, who took over as the president of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee told reporters here today.

Even under Deora’s predecessor Sanjay Nirupam, the party had rolled out lakhs of posters and banners with the promise of 500 sq ft flats for the city’s slum dwellers.

“At least 10 lakh families still live in slums across Mumbai that are still awaiting redevelopment,” a Congress leader said. The party has identified slum clusters in every Lok Sabha constituency and the its workers have begun reaching out to their residents since Rahul Gandhi’s Mumbai rally.