MUMBAI: After a long wait, 556 families from Worli's BDD chawls will receive the keys to their new 500-sq ft BDD chawls will receive the keys to their new 500-sq ft flats Thursday. Two of the eight redevelopments — Wings D and E — are ready for occupation.
Fifteen of these families involved in the campaign for redevelopment and a couple of senior citizens will be handed their keys by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and his deputy Eknath Shinde at a ceremony, while the rest will be handed theirs later in the day at the Mhada office.
The redevelopment of BDD chawls, where a majority of Marathi manoos have been residing for generations, has been a political issue for decades. The redevelopment was conceptualised when the BJP-undivided Shiv Sena govt was in office in 1995-99. It was Fadnavis, in his first tenure as CM, who kickstarted the process by appointing Mhada to carry out the redevelopment.
The redevelopment of BDD chawls at Worli, Naigaum in Dadar, and N M Joshi Marg is estimated to cost over Rs 17,000 crore. When completed, 15,593 residents would have been moved from 60 sq ft homes to 500 sq ft flats.