Free homes for families of 1,800 retired cops in Mumbai: Maharashtra housing minister

MUMBAI: Around 1,800 families of police personnel living in BDD Chawls post-retirement will get free housing under the redevelopment project, said state housing minister Jitendra Awhad. The state government has undertaken the redevelopment of BDD chawls at Worli, N M Joshi Marg and Naigaum in Dadar.

The redevelopment project in central Mumbai is slated to be done over next eight years. The government has promised 500-sq-ft free flats for the chawl tenants who currently live in 160-sq-ft homes.

“These families will be given flats meant for project-affected-persons (PAP) that are part of Mhada’s share of surplus flats,” he said. Awhad said that when some women from these police families had petitioned the government, they said that their men were working in the force for generations.

“One woman said her grand father-in-law, father-in-law and now her husband were in the police force and the family has been living here since then. It was then we decided they must be provided free housing,” he said.

Accommodation of these families will not impact the city police chief’s quota. CM Uddhav Thackeray performed bhoomipujan for the project on August 1, relaunching the project that was stalled for nearly four years. The MVAgovernment has claimed it will provide flats for phase I in three years.

This week the state housing department issued a government resolution, extending deadline for eligibility for free housing to January 1, 2021. “This means anyone who has been paying rent as on January 1, 2021 will be eligible for free housing. The eligibility will be decided by the PWD, the rent collector, and permanent agreement with tenants will be signed by Mhada, the nodal agency for the project,” Awhad said.