There are around 30, 000 people residing in 415 dilapidated buildings across the city, awaiting redevelopment, at a potential risk to their lives. What’s delaying the revamp? Consent among citizens; disagreements over shifting to an alternate accommodation; structural audits carried out by tenants to challenge an authority’s order; major revision of a policy to give boost to redevelopment are some of the reasons.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has declared 499 buildings — anywhere between 30-year-old and a century-old — dilapidated this year. Of these, only 14 have been demolished and 70 have been vacated. Out of the remaining 415 buildings under the C1 category (extremely dangerous and needs to be demolished), the redevelopment of some has been stayed by the court; some have faced disconnection of water supply and electricity; and in some cases, the police have been requested to help vacate the buildings. Most of the 499 buildings — 51 — declared dilapidated are in the K west ward (Andheri, Vile Parle, Versova and Juhu), followed by 47 in T ward (Mulund).

“Buildings in a coastal city have a lesser shelf life. The BMC considers 30 years as the shelf life for a building to be surveyed before monsoon. Based on our survey of 30-year-old buildings in the city, we issue notices asking them to conduct a structural audit and submit the report to us. Once we disconnect water supply and electricity, we write to the police as part of the process for evacuation,” said a senior civic official. The redevelopment of most dilapidated buildings gets delayed owing to disagreement between the landlord or builder and tenants or residents, said officials.

Civic chief Praveen Pardeshi said they will closely work with other government bodies like Mhada to ensure safe rehabilitation of residents of dilapidated buildings. “We will create awareness among citizens about the condition of their buildings through campaigns. We will put up boards in their buildings,” Pardeshi said.

Experts have pointed out that the authorities need to come up with different solutions to make residents aware about the situation, instead of only issuing notices and carrying out forceful eviction. Advocate Vinod Sampat, who has dealt with a number of cases related to housing, said, “The landlords and tenants are equally to be blame as an ideal building’s condition would not deteriorate easily if repairs are carried out in time. The authorities need to act effectively on structural audit reports. BMC should come up with more solutions to ensure the revamp of buildings is not stuck.”