Controversial builders to help redevelop Mumbai''s red-light area

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, February 18

Controversial Mumbai developers Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka, who were accused in the 2G scam before being acquitted, have been appointed by the Maharashtra Government to a panel which will oversee the development of the city”s red-light district.

DB Realty, the company promoted by Balwa and Goenka, had undertaken many marquee construction projects in Mumbai and other cities before the names of the duo featured in the 2G scam. They were subsequently acquitted by courts.

Under the plan being considered by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, congested neighbourhoods like Kamathipura in South Mumbai, where the red-light district is located, would be taken as an entire cluster which would be redeveloped as an integrated township. Incidentally, DB Realty had proposed constructing an integrated township across the 50 acre spanning the Kamathipura area nearly 15 years ago, according to state government sources.

Shortly after the plan was unveiled, speculators in real estate have been purchasing small rooms in the ””chawls”” where the sex workers operate. While many of the ””cages”” — as they are known in Mumbai””s parlance — have been vacated, the flesh trade continues to operate, according to the police.

According to officials here, state Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad had a day-long meeting on Tuesday with officials from the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) where the redevelopment of Kamathipura was discussed. Sources say private real estate developers would be roped in to rebuild the neighbourhood at a cost of several thousand crore rupees.

Officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation say Kamathipura has around a thousand buildings with rooms measuring just about 50 to 100 sq ft in area. Most of the occupants are hereditary tenants who come under the Rent Control Act and pay less than Rs 50 per month as rent. Under the prevailing laws in Maharashtra, tenants of old buildings are to be accommodated in bigger homes free of cost in the same neighbourhood.

In turn, the builder redeveloping such properties is expected to recover his costs by selling flats and commercial property in the open market.