Aaditya Thackeray urges Maha govt to release funds for Mumbai’s dilapidated cessed buildings

Mumbai, April 24 Amid ageing structures in Mumbai, Shiv Sena(UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray in a letter to the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on Friday, has demanded the immediate provision of special funds for the repair of over 13,500 "cessed" buildings in Mumbai.

Thackeray highlighted that thousands of residents in the island city continue to live in life-threatening conditions. He pointed out that many of these buildings are over 50 to 80 years old and in dire need of structural reinforcement before the monsoon season sets in.

He emphasised that the Mumbai Building Repair and Reconstruction Board (MBRRB), a wing of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), is currently facing a severe financial crunch, which has stalled critical repair work. "The safety of Mumbaikars cannot be compromised due to a lack of funds," the letter stated.

Thackeray urged the state government to treat this as an emergency and allocate a dedicated corpus to ensure that no unfortunate incidents occur during the heavy rains. He also called for a more streamlined process to fast-track the redevelopment of these structures, many of which have been stuck in bureaucratic red tape for decades.

According to the housing department, there is a housing category of "cessed" buildings in Mumbai. These are old private buildings (mostly in South Mumbai) built before 1969. They are called "cessed" because the tenants pay a "repair cess" (a tax) to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA). In exchange, MHADA is responsible for its structural repairs and maintenance.

There are three categories, including Category A built before 1940 (the most vulnerable), Category B built between 1940 and 1950, and Category C built between 1950 and 1969.

As these buildings fall under the Rent Control Act, the rents are extremely low (sometimes as low as Rs 100 - Rs 500 per month). Consequently, landlords have no incentive to maintain them, and the "cess" collected by MHADA is often insufficient to cover the massive costs of repairing such old, crumbling masonry.

Sources said that while redevelopment is the permanent solution, it is often delayed by disputes between landlords and tenants, or by "non-viable" plots where the small area makes it difficult for developers to profit. The demand for special funds usually arises when the repair board's annual budget is exhausted, leaving hundreds of "dangerous" buildings without the necessary repairs to survive the Mumbai monsoon.

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