Maha govt to enact laws to avoid delay in SRA projects

Maharashtra government today said that in order to make the developers and contractors stick to the deadline in SRA projects, necessary laws would be enacted, with provisions of penalisation and cancellation of contract if the work is not completed on time.
During a debate in the State Assembly on the calling attention motion initiated by BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha, State Housing Minister Prakash Mehta said builders would be given a three year period to complete the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects and launch work within three months after the award of the contract.
"The government will enact necessary laws, including provisions of penalisation and cancellation of contract if the builders fail to construct the SRA housing scheme within deadline," Mehta said.

Lodha pointed out that as many as 121 slum-dwellers were yet to get the prescribed tenements in the SRA housing scheme at the MP Mills compound at Tardeo in Mumbai. "They are still living in transit rooms," he said.
The MLA demanded that the government should not allow the developer to construct the proposed third building under the scheme till he provides housing to these slum-dwellers.
The BJP member was supported by other members in the house on the issue.

The minister said the slum dwellers in question would get their tenements as soon as the construction is completed. "The government would not allow the developer to construct the third building in the complex till it completes the housing scheme for the remaining 121 slum dwellers," he added.

He said initially 37,061.80 sq metre of government land at Tardeo was given to the housing society in 1996 under Slum Redevelopment (SRD) scheme, which was later converted as an SRA scheme in 1999.
Mehta claimed that 2,112 slum dwellers had been given tenements, while 101 more houses are now ready and would be handed over the beneficiaries soon.