Lockdown or no lockdown, neither makes any difference to the lives of tenants of the Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) Chawl at Chandanwadi, who have been out of their homes since 2016, following a proposed redevelopment. The tenants said the “terms stated that the project will be completed within three years.” But neither have they got their homes back nor the promised monthly rent for the past two years. The chawl is located at Marine Lines, near Chandanwadi crematorium. According to the redevelopment terms, each tenant was to get a corpus of Rs 11,11,000 and a monthly rent of Rs 32,000 till the project is complete. There are a total of 687 tenants, and they said they’re promised a 425 sq ft carpet area flat each.

Huge delay

The developer was supposed to complete the project within three years, but five years later, it is nowhere near completion. Friction between tenants, then problems between developers and tenants over a tripartite agreement amongst others, registration rumpus and many other problems has stalled the project. While a court battle rages on, the human cost of this conflict is tremendous. There is a very real danger of some of these tenants tipping over the edge, as they struggle financially and psychologically.