MUMBAI, March 20: Mumbai Repair and Reconstruction Board (MRRB) Chairman Madhu Chavan today said that henceforth the board would repair a building only once. After the repairs, the building would be handed over to the tenants and the board would stop charging the cess for it.While presenting a Rs 113-crore surplus budget for the current financial year, he said the tenant would be asked to form co-operative societies and take charge of their buildings. The budget for the year 1998-99 shows a revenue of Rs 120.90 crore and pegs the expenditure at Rs 107.15 crore.
Chavan said the board would from now on lay stress on providing structural stability to dilapidated buildings and repairs in parts would not be undertaken. Once a building has been identified, he said, a thorough inspection of the entire structure would be carried out and the entire building would be repaired in one go. For this, Chavan said, a provision of Rs 52 crore has been made in the budget - Rs 9 crore for repairs in existing transit camps,Rs 2 crore for constructing new tenements and Rs 18.45 crore for reconstruction of dilapidated buildings.
Also, for the first time the board has issued a circular concerning maintenance of quality control in the material used for the repairs.
"We will set specifications for sand, bricks, cement and other construction material. All these will be tested in our laboratory," he informed and added that this would ensure accountability for all those involved in the repair works. In case of any mishap, the departments concerned would be held responsible.
To accommodate all the tenants of the buildings being reconstructed by MRRB, the board has decided to demolish transit camps in Colaba and construct building instead of the existing chawls. Additional FSI would be used to accommodate people in the waiting list. In the new financial year, the board has chalked out 51 scheme in which 5,444 tenements would be constructed.
Of this, 16 schemes would be taken up immediately, while work on the remaining schemeswould start in December. Chavan said the board would complete all formalities of land acquisition within two months.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
