BMC to spend Rs 800 crore to redevelop staff quarters

The civic body has promised to speed up the process of reconstruction of their dilapidated employee homes, and build more transit camps to shift residents in the process

Authorities at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) finally seem to have woken up to the dangerous conditions in which they house their own employees.

Big move:In the first phase, the BMC plans to construct transit camps in Mahim, Gautam Nagar in Dadar and one near Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar. Pic/Satyajit Desai

After the Dockyard Road building collapse, where employees of the Markets department stayed, the BMC has decided to speed up the process of the redevelopment of quarters of other BMC conservancy staff faster. Resident employees in these buildings will be shifted to transit camps, and more camps will be made to accommodate employees’ families.

Mohan Adtani, additional municipal commissioner, in charge of the Solid Waste Management department, who also takes care of the issue of dangerous buildings, said, “Within 15-20 days, we will be inviting tenders to construct transit camps. In the first phase, 2,000 transit houses will be constructed. There will be no shortage of transit camps and it will not halt the redevelopment process.”

Currently of the 28,000 sweepers, 6,600 employees reside in staff quarters scattered across 39 areas in the city and suburbs.

Most of these buildings are in a bad state. In order to accommodate all the 28,000 employees, the BMC plans to use a floor space index (FSI) of 4 in the project. “We will send the proposal to the state government and seek permission to use 4 FSI so that we can build 28,000 houses for all,” added Adtani.

“The project cost is about Rs 800 crore and it will be completed in six years. There are no commercial units; the project is entirely residential,” Adtani informed.

The process of vacating families from dilapidated buildings has already begun. In the first phase, the BMC plans to construct transit camps in Mahim, Gautam Nagar in Dadar and one near Rajawadi hospital in Ghatkopar.

28,000
Number of conservancy staff members who stand to benefit from the redevelopment projectu00a0

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