Borivali LIC township’s residents urge for redevelopment

The current residents of the 46 ground-plus-three-storey buildings, occupying 1,535 flats, bought their homes through the LIC policy after the township was built around 1970 on over 75 acres. “When we bought the house, there was no one around here. The basic criteria to buy were to be an eligible LIC policyholder. We paid the cost of the house via the premium,” said Badal Agarwal, secretary of the Jeeva Bhima Nagar residents association (JBNRA) “Now that the building structures are old, so are the residents who bought the house 50 years ago, and the basic problem for all the house owners is the inability to climb four flights of stairs.”

As the flats continue to be under LIC’s ownership, its maintenance, including the works of water pipelines and drainage systems, has become a task. “The landowners cannot look into the day-to-day matters, and it is beyond the jurisdiction of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), so we cannot approach either of them. It is similar for the water pipeline issues,” Shyam Nair, Chairman of JBNRA, said.

All 46 buildings have an individual co-operative housing society that manages the repair costs of the building. “We undertook a structural audit and it showed that there are leakages and cracks in the building so there is an urgent need to take action on the buildings, this has caused the maintenance costs to soar, which also the senior citizens cannot afford,” highlighted Agarwal. The latest structural audit, taken a couple of years ago, showed multiple leakages from plumbing joints, cracked plaster, moss growth on the building’s exterior portions, and cracks in the structure’s interiors.

“While the 46 buildings with homes are scattered on the plot, some parts of it, reserved for playgrounds and other recreational facilities, lie vacant and vulnerable to encroachments,” Nair said.

In order to resolve the issue, the residents came up with a solution that they think is beneficial to both parties. “The corporation can redevelop houses for us in 10 acres of land, which can accommodate residents of all 1,535 flats, and build more houses in the remaining land, which can benefit all,” said Agarwal.

On Sunday, this plan was put forth to Piyush Goyal, Member of Parliament of North Mumbai. “Currently, there is no such scheme to make developments on the central government land. However, we will reach out to the authorities in LIC to work out a plan,” he said.