Yet another building, this time in the Crawford Market area, collapsed on Wednesday even as the cluster development policy mooted by the state government continues to await clearance.The policy was announced in October 2007, primarily with an emphasis on re-developing old buildings located in clusters in the narrow, congested lanes of the island city. However, while the state continues to wait for an amendment in the development control regulation 33 (9) that will allow the state to enter into public private partnerships for re-developing old buildings in clusters, the city continues to count the old building collapses and subsequent casualties.There are 13,500 buildings in Mumbai that have outlived their age with residents continuing to live in them. Of these, over 1,600 buildings are in South Mumbai, have been declared ‘cessed’ by MHADA and are in urgent need of reconstruction. Of these, 79 were declared ‘most dangerous’ this year requiring immediate eviction but residents refused to leave. “One of the main causes behind residents not moving out is that they do not want to go and live in transit camps located too far away as they have their children’s schools, businesses etc located in this area,” said executive engineer of MHADA, M M Chimankar.Rishi Agarwal, environment sustainability and community engagement manager of Remaking of Mumbai Federation (RoMF) believes it is the implementation of the policy that will change the situation. “In the absence of a policy or guideline that will make eviction mandatory or give an assurance to these residents of getting a good home after redevelopment, residents choose to live in these old structures. It can be solved if the government makes the right policy decisions and changes people’s perception that in moments of trouble, there is nobody for them,” he said.
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