BDD chawl redevelopment project set to kickstart on August 1

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar would jointly lay the foundation stone of the project

The much-awaited BDD chawl redevelopment project will kickstart on Sunday (August 1) as Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar will jointly lay the foundation stone of the project.

Ahead of the inauguration, state housing minister Dr Jitendra Awhad and state environment, tourism and protocol minister Aaditya Thackeray, who is the MLA from Worli, visited the BDD chawl and spoke to the residents.

The BDD stands for Bombay Development Directorate - and these chawls are around a century old.

As of 2016, 195 BDD chawls are located at Worli, Naigaon and Parel and cover an area of 86.98 acres.

Among the 195 BDD chawls, the maximum of 121 chawls is in Worli. The Worli BDD chawls occupy a maximum area of 59.69 acres.

The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) is the nodal agency for the project.

Actually used as jails in the British era, these buildings were converted into housing apartments for the economically weaker sections in the 1920s.

The BDD tenants association, the Akhil BDD Chawl Badekaru Hakk Sanrakshan Samiti, has been spearheading the cause of the project.

The construction of the chawl buildings, each with 80 rooms, was completed between 1921 and 1925 to solve the massive housing shortage during that time.

At present, around 9,500 families reside in the project precincts. Since the housing colonies are now more than 90 years old and have completed their life cycle, the Government of Maharashtra decided on its redevelopment.