Is low pricing driving citizens of Mumbai to reside in old dilapidated buildings?

Representational image.

As monsoon picked up strength in Mumbai, India's financial capital, concerns over 16,000-plus dilapidated buildings standing tall in Mumbai, which are home to thousands of residents, are growing. In the past one week, three building collapses have been reported in Mumbai in which 19 people have lost their lives.

Incidents of collapse in the last one week:

On June 28, 2022, 19 people were declared dead after a ground-plus-three dilapidated building collapsed in the Kurla area of central suburbs in Mumbai. The incident happened on June 27 at midnight. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was quick to clarify that it had issued notices to the building repeatedly since 2013. However, the residents did not vacate the building.

The BMC had said the role of the structural auditor will also be probed, considering that the auditor had put the building in the repairable category. The audit by BMC had declared the same building unsafe for habitation. An enquiry is being conducted into the incident. Following this collapse, three nearby buildings were also vacated the next day.

Further, on June 30, two more incidents of building collapse were reported in the city. However, in both the incidents, there were no injuries. This took the number of building collapses to three in a span of three days.

The first incident of collapse on June 30 was reported in the Badam Wadi area of Kalbadevi in South Mumbai. A portion of a four-storey residential building collapsed. However, there were no injuries as the building was vacated beforehand. This building was a cessed property, whose maintenance right is with the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).

On the same day, another five-storey building collapsed in the Sion area of Central Mumbai. Even in this case, the building was under the jurisdiction of MHADA, but there were no injuries as it was already vacated.

NDRF carrying search operations in Kurla where a building collapsed on June 27. (Picture credits: NDRF)

Many dilapidated buildings in the city

According to the list issued by the Mumbai Civic Body, as many as 337 buildings in Mumbai have been identified as dilapidated or in the C1 category, requiring immediate vacating of the structure followed by demolition. In the incident of June 27, the building was declared dilapidated and notices to vacate the premises were also issued by the BMC. However, the residents did not vacate the structure.

Every year before the onset of monsoon, the Mumbai Civic Body issues vacate notices to residents of all the dilapidated buildings in the city. According to the list issued in April 2022, as many as 163 out of 337 buildings were in the western suburbs of Mumbai, followed by 104 in the eastern suburbs, and the remaining in the island city, also known as south Mumbai.

Further, in terms of cessed buildings that are regulated by MHADA in Mumbai, there are more than 14,000 dilapidated buildings in the city. Of these, 21 buildings were declared extremely dangerous by the MHADA on May 26, 2022. The residents of such buildings are asked to vacate their homes immediately and shift to transit camps provided by the authorities.

Top 5 reasons for residents not vacating the old buildings

In the majority of cases, the residents fail to vacate their old buildings though they are in a dangerous state because of:

1: Dispute between tenant and landlord in case of old buildings under the British-era pagdi system.

2: Trust deficit when it comes to vacating their houses. The residents fear that redevelopment might get stuck and the developer might stop paying rent, and they might even lose rights over their house.

3: In the case of old cessed buildings that are regulated by MHADA, the transit camps provided by the authority are far from the existing location of the houses of tenants. Additionally, tenants often give excuses like transit camps are not in ideal locations, and lack facilities and basic amenities.

4: In the case of old private buildings in Mumbai, the main reasons for residents not vacating their houses are disputes among society members over redevelopment or repair, and housing societies not having conveyance of the land thus finding it difficult to find a redeveloper to redevelop their old buildings. This is one of the reasons why the Maharashtra government is pushing for housing societies to apply for deemed conveyance. In the last two years during the COVID pandemic, more than 2,300 housing societies have been issued deemed conveyance.

5: Cheap housing: One of the reasons why citizens prefer to buy or rent out houses in old buildings is because they are cheaper compared to new or middle-aged buildings in the market. However, these old buildings do have the risk of collapsing during rainfall. It is here where the role of affordable homes becomes crucial.

19 people lost their lives in a building collapse at Kurla. (Picture credits: NDRF)

Collapsed Kurla building had tenants residing on rent

In the case of the June 27 collapse in Kurla, the apartments in the building constructed in the 1970s were allotted to tribal communities. Authorities say that these communities seem to have sold these flats to non-tribals, who in turn rented out apartments. However, no proper repair work was undertaken nor was the building vacated despite the authorities calling it a dilapidated structure.

Satish Kshetre, 27, who used to reside in the Kurla building that collapsed said, "Majority of the residents in our building were residing on rent. I was also residing on rent for the last five years, and was not aware of the building's dilapidated status. I preferred staying there as the rent for my apartment was only Rs 11,000 per month because the building was old. In other buildings in the area, one BHK homes are not available for less than Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000, which is not affordable for my family. The problem here is affordability, we cannot afford a rented house in newer buildings nor can we go outside Kurla and reside in Thane or Kalyan as we have been residing here since childhood. The government should do something to make houses more affordable for economically weaker sections."

Kshetre added that he was planning to get married on July 15, but now that has been postponed as all the cash and gold have gone with the building collapse.

How much cheaper are houses in old buildings?

According to real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle India, in specific pockets of western and central parts of Mumbai, people can purchase a 2BHK flat for the market price of a 1BHK, provided it is in an old building.

The current per square feet rate in the western and central parts of Mumbai is between Rs 15,000 and Rs 1 lakh depending on specific micro-markets of Bandra, Khar, according to real estate brokers.

Three collapses in a week: What authorities say

In a statement issued by the office of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in a meeting on July 1, 2022, has ordered the authorities to shift residents in dilapidated buildings to safer locations to avoid loss of human life.

He has also ordered authorities to issue notices to residents of such buildings in a language layman will understand. Further, the deputy CM has also ordered authorities to move residents staying in nearby hilly areas to safer locations, citing landslide risks.

However, assistant municipal commissioners of several areas in Mumbai told Moneycontrol on condition of anonymity, "In case of cessed buildings that are under MHADA, there are transit camps. But how are we supposed to vacate and shift residents from private buildings to safer locations?"

The officers added they provide monsoon shelters temporarily during landslides and water logging to vulnerable populations, but these are in municipal schools and community halls. As of now, there is no policy on where the temporary shifting of residents can be done by Mumbai Civic Body for private dilapidated buildings, and the state government should formulate one policy for such cases."

NDRF rescued two pigeons from the collapse site of Kurla on June 27. (Picture credits: NDRF)

Why do old or dilapidated structures collapse during monsoon?

According to experts, during monsoon rainwater weakens the structure of old buildings leading to collapse. Further, rainwater also loosens the soil in hilly areas leading to landslides. Mumbai has witnessed several landslides in the eastern parts of the city owing to heavy rainfall where at least two dozen lives were lost during the 2021 monsoon.

Jamshed Sukhadwalla, a structural engineer and former lecturer at VJTI College of Engineering in Mumbai said, "The reason why during rainfall old or dilapidated buildings collapse is simple; water weakens the old structure. In the case of hilly slopes, the soil gets saturated with water and becomes loose, leading to landslides. In the case of old structures, rainwater weakens the building leading to collapse. Further, old or dilapidated buildings with cracks also have their cracks widened during rainfall as rainwater enters these cracks, leading to collapse."

Five solutions to the issue of building collapse
According to experts and Maharashtra Housing Authority officials, the one and only solution to this issue is redevelopment.

Ramesh Prabhu, Chairman of Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association listed four measures to save old buildings or redevelop them.

1: Regular repairs will increase the life of a building. For example, doing something as minimal as fixing leakages and painting work every five years.

2: Structural audit for every building that is older than 30 years; even the Mumbai Civic Body mandates that.

3: Redevelopment is the best solution for old or dilapidated buildings, and now there is an option for self-redevelopment too.

4: If redevelopment is not possible due to several hurdles like disputes between developers and residents, the government should come up with a policy where the state housing authority can take over private buildings. MHADA can later generate housing stock of the additional FSI, and sell affordable homes in the open market. In this way, old buildings can be redeveloped and affordable homes can be made available.

Meanwhile, Arun Dongre, chief of MHADA's Repair and Redevelopment Board said, "If we are talking about MHADA's cessed or dilapidated buildings, the only solution is redevelopment. In the case of two building collapses last week, we had fortunately vacated the buildings, but we also have cases where residents of dilapidated buildings are ready to give us in writing that they are willing to stay and they will be responsible for any untoward incident."

Dongre added, "However, this is not the solution and citizens must understand that redevelopment is the only solution. The bill for taking over stuck projects is with the president of India. Once the bill is cleared, around 58 projects will be benefited."