Mumbai: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday, November 6, distributed 557 rehabilitation flats to families of the Na. M. Joshi Marg BDD chawl redevelopment project in Lower Parel, the Chief Minister's Office announced — the largest single handover so far in Mumbai's century-old chawl renewal programme.

Source: Nation Press

The 557 completed flats are spread across three wings of the project's first phase and were handed over at a function at the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in Nariman Point, according to project details published ahead of the ceremony. The redevelopment, implemented by the Mumbai Board of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), covers 13.49 acres and 32 old chawls where families have lived for generations in rooms of about 160 square feet; eligible families receive ownership flats with a carpet area of 500 square feet.

Source: DCN News

The full project plans 2,560 tenements in 14 rehabilitation wings across two phases, and construction of another 684 flats is in its final stage. For the second phase, the eligibility of 1,200 occupants from 15 chawls has been established, and they have been receiving advance transit rent of ₹30,000 a month for 11 months since August 2026. The new buildings are 22-storey earthquake-resistant structures, and MHADA will maintain the common amenities for 12 years, according to the project details.

Colaba Quarters and the 2028 Pledge

In a separate ceremony the same day, Fadnavis handed over keys to beneficiaries of newly constructed staff quarters under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's Ashray Yojana Phase-2 at Rajwadkar Street, Panchsheel Nagar, in Colaba. The ₹17-crore project comprises 54 self-contained flats of about 238 square feet each in a ground-plus-nine-storey building, built for sanitation and conservancy workers of the BMC's Solid Waste Management Department, ANI reported.

Source: ANI via Indian Economic Observer

At the ceremony, Fadnavis announced that all BMC sanitation employees will receive service residences under the Ashray Yojana by 2028, saying in Marathi, 'By 2028, all sanitation workers will be provided service residences,' according to reports of the event. His post on X framed the housing under the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Shram Safalya Awas Yojana, pledging rightful homes to Mumbai's sanitation workers in the coming period.

Source: Nation Press

What happens next will be measured in handovers: the remaining BDD chawl phases at Lower Parel, Worli and Delisle Road, and successive Ashray Yojana tranches across Mumbai will show whether the 2028 deadline for housing every sanitation worker holds.