Ram Patkar, president of Kulgaon Badlapur Municipal Council (KBMC), said, “On the forefront is the Rs 151 crore Underground Drainage Project. An underground drainage system, besides removing the open drains often overflowing during the monsoons, would also reduce the pollution in Ulhas river as the sewage would be processed in a treatment plant.” Currently the untreated sewage is directly let into the Ulhas river.

The project has been approved under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and would be getting 35 per cent of the funds from the central government, 15 per cent from the state government with rest of the amount coming from the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) as soft loans.

Redevelopment of the slums is also in the pipeline. In the first phase 1634 slums would be redeveloped into self-contained model colonies. The Rs 77 crore Housing Project under the Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP) envisages health centers, community halls, gymnasium, gardens and solar power enabled colonies. “We are also in the process of submitting a proposal for the redevelopment of the remaining 2000 slums under BSUP. Once it is undertaken, there would not be any slums in Badlapur. We would be the first civic body in Mumbai Metropolitan Region to boast of such a record,” said Patkar. He added that 50 per cent of the funding for the housing project would be from the central government, 30 per cent from the state government, 11 per cent from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and remaining 9 per cent would be raised by the municipal council.