Gentrification in the mill land areas of Mumbai city - RC21 ORG ...

maintenance cost from the tenants. The builders keep some amount of money in the bank as a
corpus. Gradually they deduct the maintenance charge of the building, water supply
electricity bill from the corpus fund. But after ten years the tenants have to pay all the
charges, tax, maintenance charges, water supply bill electricity bill, and lift in the current
rate. But there are many discrepancies in it. On the other hand tenants of the building before
the completion of ten years sell their room at a very high rate and shift to a house in suburban
areas of Mumbai. Another respondent Dilip Kochrekar an ex textile mill worker, his chawl is
ready to go for redevelopment. According to him, ‘most probably the Lodha builders will
take the responsibility of the redevelopment’.
The value of the land in this area increases by leaps and bounds. If the room is on the main
road in a prime location, the builders are ready to pay one crore for a small room. A widow,
my respondent whose husband had worked as an electrician in Prakash Cotton mill, lives in
the chawl of Shreenivas Mill just opposite to Prakash cotton mill. The very small room of
10/10 square feet facing the road side opposite to the Peninsula Tower constructed in the mill
compound of Morarjee Mill No.2 receives a value of one crore. The builders are pressurising
the chawl owners to undergo redevelopment and they are ready to pay one crore to procure
the road side room. But the lady hesitates because she does not prefer to stay at the backside
of the plot. Moreover, being unemployed she is trying to evade the maintenance charges.
Another lady respondent of mine, a widow, while sharing her experience, explicitly
mentioned about her purchase of the room in 1982 out of 14,000 rupees in pagdi system.
There is no formation of society in her chawl. She had renovated her room according to her
own choice and with own expense. People also feel for change under the desire for better life.
E.g. this lady is in favour of redevelopment because she needs a decent life. The building of
towers, the high land value eventually became very lucrative for many. Even in their utter
despair, many look forward to the rising land values in order to gain profit but at the same
time they think of avoiding the maintenance charges. This dualistic role played by the
inhabitants makes the situation much graver.
The city of Mumbai is under the control of the builders. All the renowned and the small
industrialists are in real estate business, because there is an extensive profit margin. The
politicians have also become a part of it (Datta Ishwalkar, secretary of GKSS in an interview).
According to an ex textile mill worker redevelopment is profitable for both the parties
(builders and tenants). He further adds: