Maharashtra: Once jail, Mumbai's BDD chawl will now house a museum

For a person staying in Mumbai, BDD chawl is a common word. But what does it stand for? BDD stands for Bombay Development Directorate chawls. In several Bollywood films, there have been stories woven in the backdrop of chawls of Mumbai -- and BDD is not an exception.

The history of BDD chawls is quite an interesting one. These were actually jails in the British-era but later converted into housing tenements for the working class.

These chawls are spread over 92 acres of prime land in Mumbai and 195 chawls are spread over Worli, Naigaon, NM Joshi Marg plus a few in Sewree.

As the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) starts redeveloping the BDD chawls in Mumbai, this piece of history would be preserved.

It will build a museum that would throw light on the history of the BDD chawls.

The financing model has not been finalised, however, the MHADA may rope in a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) partner or may look for other models to the museum that would be in Worli, which had the biggest chunk of BDD chawls.

The BDD chawls started coming up in the 1920s and were initially used for prisoners by the British and later, the freedom fighters. Slowly it got converted into a housing facility for the working class. Currently more than 16,000 families stay here in 160-square-feet cramped houses with issues like ventilation, common bathrooms and toilets.