Maharashtra CM Shinde launches cluster redevelopment programme in Thane

The cluster redevelopment programme, in which several buildings in an area are rebuilt together as one unit to get economies of scale as well as space, would be extended to the entire Mumbai Metropolitan Region, said Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday.

Launching the cluster redevelopment programme in Thane, Shinde said it was a historic move as the state government had amended rules and regulations for the relief of the people, especially those living in tenements that have been declared dangerous.

"Cluster redevelopment is my dream. I remember how Sairaj building (in Shinde's locality) collapsed in 1997 and claimed several lives. As a (party) worker, I had pulled out people from the debris," said Shinde at the function, in which two couples from the ill-fated building were also invited.

"The struggle (for cluster redevelopment) started then and today it is a reality. I had warned at the time that I would jump off the Assembly building if cluster redevelopment does not come through. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has had a lion's share in cluster redevelopment becoming reality. He could not attend due to commitments in Nagpur," he said.

Various agencies like MHADA, CIDCO, BMC etc will take over incomplete and delayed redevelopment projects in Mumbai, he said, adding that cluster redevelopment was the answer to the poor state of transit camps in the metropolis.

In the first phase, a total of 10,000 tenements are being built on a cumulative area of 1,500 hectares, which will be the biggest in Asia, the CM said, adding that his dream was to create planned cities comprising cluster redevelopment projects.

In the first phase two clusters measuring 7,753 square metres and 19,725 square metres will be taken up.

CIDCO MD Sanjay Mukherjee said the planning authority will be executing the project (of 10,000 homes comprising two clusters) using pre fab construction technology and for which soil testing and levelling work had begun.

MLA Sanjay Kelkar hailed Shinde for the latter's role in getting the cluster redevelopment programme to take off in Thane, He urged the CM to remove SRA schemes from the cluster redevelopment programme.

A few weeks ahead of the first anniversary of his government (which was formed on June 30 last year), Shinde said the state was getting all support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said the previous MVA government, during its two-and-half-year tenure, had taken the state back by 10 years.