Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday inaugurated the first phase of the Worli BDD Chawl Redevelopment Project, a landmark initiative touted as one of Asia’s largest urban renewal programme. The event, held at Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruha in Matunga (West), saw Fadnavis hand over keys to newly constructed flats to 556 eligible residents. Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, along with senior minister and officials, were present at the ceremony.

Details Of The Mega Project

The redevelopment, undertaken by MHADA’s Mumbai Housing and Area Development Board, marks a historic step in rehabilitating long-time chawl residents into modern homes. The first phase covers residents from D and E wings of Building No. 01. Currently, 9,689 residents from 121 old chawls in Worli are set to be rehabilitated, with 65 per cent of the total land earmarked for this purpose.

Eligible residents, who previously lived in 160 sq ft rooms, are being provided ownership of spacious 2BHK flats with a carpet area of 500 sq ft, completely free of cost. The redevelopment plan envisions 34 rehabilitation towers of 40 storeys each, each flat coming with a stilt-plus-six-level podium parking and landscaped gardens on the seventh floor.

A Self-Sufficient Modern Township

The ambitious project will create a self-contained township with facilities such as a commercial complex, schools, hospitals, gyms, hostels, and sustainable infrastructure including sewage treatment plants, solar energy systems and rainwater harvesting. MHADA will maintain the rehabilitated buildings for the next 12 years.

In a nod to the BDD’s century-old legacy, heritage spaces like Jamboree Maidan and Ambedkar Maidan will be preserved, and one old chawl building will be converted into a museum to showcase the history of BDD chawls.

Transit Support & Expansion Plans

Residents have been moved to temporary transit accommodations or have opted for a monthly rent allowance. Eligible occupants are receiving an advance rent of Rs 25,000 per month for 11 months.

By December this year, MHADA aims to complete an additional 3,989 flats across all three BDD redevelopment sites, Worli, N.M. Joshi Marg and Naigaon. Across the 86-acre project footprint, 207 chawls housing 15,593 residents are slated for redevelopment. The N.M. Joshi Marg site will include 14 rehabilitation buildings for 2,560 units, while Naigaon (Dadar) will feature 20 rehabilitation buildings for 3,344 units.

Mumbai: A 32-year-old police constable lost his life after being struck by a train at Nalasopara station on the Western Line of Mumbai’s suburban local train network. The incident took place on Tuesday afternoon while attempting to cross the tracks in a rush to work. The victim, Ganesh Raul, was attached to the Samata Nagar police station in Kandivali and lived in Nalasopara with his wife and children.

Raul Was Running Late, Hence Attempted To Cross Tracks Directly

According to Assistant Commissioner of Police Kailash Barve, Raul had requested permission to report to duty late that day. Already behind schedule, he chose to skip the foot overbridge and tried to cross directly from the tracks to catch his regular Churchgate-bound train from platform 4. Around 2:30 pm, a Virar-bound train hit him, leaving him with severe injuries.

The station master immediately alerted the Government Railway Police (GRP) and called for an ambulance. However, Raul succumbed to his injuries en route to the hospital, Senior Police Inspector Bhagwan Dange of Vasai GRP confirmed that an accidental death report was registered.

In a separate incident on Monday evening, a 30-year-old man suffered critical burns after coming into contact with an overhead electric wire while travelling on the roof of a Harbour Line local from Wadala to Panvel. The injured man, identified as Ankur Pandey, had climbed onto the train roof at Mankhurd.

As the train reached Vashi station at around 5:10 pm, Pandey reportedly touched the live wire, triggering a rescue effort by fellow passengers and railway police. Viral videos show three to four passengers climbing onto the train to pull him down.

Pandey was rushed to Vashi Municipal Hospital and later shifted to J.J. Hospital for advanced care. Police suspect he may have climbed onto the roof intending to end his life. “We are tracing his relatives and investigating the motive,” said Vashi Railway Police Senior Inspector Kiran Undare.

Mumbai: The BJP-led Mahayuti government will commemorate Partition Horrors Remembrance Day across the state today (August 14). Divisional Commissioners and District Collectors have been asked to host various events to “create awareness about the poignant memories and sufferings of people during Partition”.

In another development, the department of skills, employment and innovation, led by the BJP minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha, will celebrate 150 years of Vande Mataram. Lodha will head a 7member committee for this.

Remembrance to Be Marked Across Public Spaces

As per a circular, the commemoration of the remembrance should be organised in banks, post offices, railway stations, airports, shopping malls, educational institutes, petrol pumps, skill development centres and vocational training institutes, to name a few. The administration should make efforts for the participation of maximum people besides hosting programmes where freedom fighters, eminent senior citizens and public representatives are to be invited. People who have suffered the partition ordeal should also be invited, the state circular states.

Significantly, the circular directs the government machinery to take precautions so that the feelings of sections/groups in society are not hurt. The cautionary advice appears twice in the two-page circular. The event is about the tragedy of partition and the woes of people, hence it should not hurt the feelings of any community, it states.