Everyone knows illegal buildings and structures are a huge problem in Mumbai and all attempts to stop this menace have so far failed. But now, Maharashtra government seems to have solved this problem with one stroke, by regularising all illegal structures built before December 31st 2015.

Wiping the Slate Clean

There are over 56,000 illegal structures in Mumbai alone, including buildings with extra floors, unauthorized extensions and unplanned enclosures of open space. Demolishment is not an option, and thanks to the illegal tag, these buildings are not recognised by any civic agency. But by regularising this, the Devendra Fadnavis government is essentially killing two birds with one stone, allowing future illegal constructions to be stopped, while bringing these buildings under the legal net.

“These are properties where the collection of property tax is almost nil and completely ruled out because most of these constructions are completely illegal. At the time of regularisation, there will obviously some charge taken and this will obviously help the government add to its revenues.” claims Gulam Zia, executive director at Knight Frank India.

Making Illegal Legal

· Nearly 200,000 homes in the MMR region, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune and Ulhasnagar will benefit from this policy.
· Once the policy is notified, these buildings can apply to regularise illegal structures.
· Authorities will ensure that the illegal alterations don’t endanger the building and then regularise it.
· Regularisation will not apply to structures built on No-Development Zones (NDZ) and Coastal Regulation Zones (CRZ).

Will Regularisation Work?

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis says the policy will help thousands of home buyers duped into investing in an illegal home. However, critics are worried that this will only encourage further illegal construction and allow builders to get away Scott-free.

In its defence, the government has specified that judicial cases against builders who built these structures will continue and is counting on the upcoming housing regulator to make it difficult for further illegal structures to come up.

A Masterplan for Regularisation

While that might work, urban planners say the government needs to develop a thorough plan to ensure that its regularisation policy works.

“All structures cannot be regularised. There will be some which can be, some will have to be relocated, some which will have to be demolished. I think the best way will be to build some kind of a master plan. Every city which has such unauthorized construction should be subjected to a rigorous exercise to identify illegal structures and ensure that more don’t pop up.” says Chandrashekhar Prabhu, urban planner and housing expert.

That’s important, because the regularisation policy is expected to be passed in the ongoing assembly sessions. If the government doesn’t impose strict norms to prevent future violations; it may end up allowing further regularisation in the coming years, much like its experience with slum regularisation.

Nikhil Narayan Sivadas, Assistant Editor, NDTV