Housing expert Chandrashekhar Prabhu said 3K allowed the government to appoint any developer to redevelop a slum in the garb of "public purpose" and force residents to accept the builder as they are not left with any other choice.
Documents available with this newspaper revealed that in one 3K project approved by the government, the developer had the consent of residents of 18 acres out of the 66-acre slum sprawl. It asked the government to "direct SRA not to entertain and approve proposal for any other developer on any slum pocket on piecemeal basis" on this land. "Developer has stated that 70% consent of slum dwellers may not be insisted before the letter of intent (LOI) is granted...," the SRA letter said.
Slum activist Simpreet Singh said 3K was never used all these years. "But in the past two years the government suddenly decided to give vast slum lands to some builders without tenders," he said. "It's a land grab in the name of rehabilitating slum dwellers," he added.
Singh said at Antop Hill, the state government approved a project by developer Ackruti City to redevelop land which belongs to the salt department. "The salt department has not given permission, yet the state sanctioned the scheme," he said.
Vimal Shah of Ackruti said the land belonged to the state government, but a SRA note said it belonged to the Sion Salt Pan division, with a total area of 90 acres. "We are currently procuring approvals. There are some 18,000 slum dwellers, but 50% area is reserved for open spaces and only 30 to 35 acres is developable,'' said Shah. He added that it will be a composite development with "lots of open spaces".
In Kandivli (east), the government's decision to give away over 100 acres to Ruchipriya Developers led to rival developers approaching the high court. Last year, the court directed the SRA to consider redevelopment proposals from other builders and pass appropriate orders.
Kiran Hemani of Ruchipriya said the company had obtained consent from 7,000 slum dwellers of Hanumant Nagar. "We worked on this project for the past eight years. Some bad elements tried to create problems," he said.
At Worli, a 3K project executed by Lokhandwala Infrastructure is also under litigation after some residents went to court, saying the developer did not have their consent. In 2009, then civic chief Jairaj Phatak wrote to the state housing department, seeking forcible eviction of non-cooperative slum dwellers and handover of the 15-acre plot to the developer.
Residents of the largest chunk of the Worli plot have said they are tenants of the municipal corporation with regular rent receipts and that they cannot be categorized as slum dwellers. Hence 3K cannot be applied to them, they said.
Documents available with this newspaper revealed that in one 3K project approved by the government, the developer had the consent of residents of 18 acres out of the 66-acre slum sprawl. It asked the government to "direct SRA not to entertain and approve proposal for any other developer on any slum pocket on piecemeal basis" on this land. "Developer has stated that 70% consent of slum dwellers may not be insisted before the letter of intent (LOI) is granted...," the SRA letter said.
Slum activist Simpreet Singh said 3K was never used all these years. "But in the past two years the government suddenly decided to give vast slum lands to some builders without tenders," he said. "It's a land grab in the name of rehabilitating slum dwellers," he added.
Singh said at Antop Hill, the state government approved a project by developer Ackruti City to redevelop land which belongs to the salt department. "The salt department has not given permission, yet the state sanctioned the scheme," he said.
Vimal Shah of Ackruti said the land belonged to the state government, but a SRA note said it belonged to the Sion Salt Pan division, with a total area of 90 acres. "We are currently procuring approvals. There are some 18,000 slum dwellers, but 50% area is reserved for open spaces and only 30 to 35 acres is developable,'' said Shah. He added that it will be a composite development with "lots of open spaces".
In Kandivli (east), the government's decision to give away over 100 acres to Ruchipriya Developers led to rival developers approaching the high court. Last year, the court directed the SRA to consider redevelopment proposals from other builders and pass appropriate orders.
Kiran Hemani of Ruchipriya said the company had obtained consent from 7,000 slum dwellers of Hanumant Nagar. "We worked on this project for the past eight years. Some bad elements tried to create problems," he said.
At Worli, a 3K project executed by Lokhandwala Infrastructure is also under litigation after some residents went to court, saying the developer did not have their consent. In 2009, then civic chief Jairaj Phatak wrote to the state housing department, seeking forcible eviction of non-cooperative slum dwellers and handover of the 15-acre plot to the developer.
Residents of the largest chunk of the Worli plot have said they are tenants of the municipal corporation with regular rent receipts and that they cannot be categorized as slum dwellers. Hence 3K cannot be applied to them, they said.
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