MSRDC to redevelop Korba Mithagar slums in Wadala

After kickstarting the redevelopment of Ramabai Colony in Ghatkopar through the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the state government has assigned the task of redeveloping the Korba Mithagar slums at Wadala to the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).
On Monday, the MSRDC invited tenders to appoint consultants for the redevelopment designs. “Many government corporations like CIDCO (City And Industrial Development Corporation Of Maharashtra), MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation), MMRDA and MSRDC have been asked to complete SRA projects that are stuck. We have been asked to complete 46 projects with 27,000 hutments. Korba Mithagar is one of them,” said MSRDC managing director Anil Gaikwad.
Local MLA Kalidas Kolambkar added that while some parts of Dharavi have been developed and buildings have been constructed, there are no buildings in Korba Mithagar. The area was once controlled by underworld don Varadarajan Mudaliar.
NCP Mumbai vice president Milind Yavatkar said, “This patch from Wadala East to Bhakti Park was earlier salt pan land and is also called Sangam Nagar. These salt pans started getting encroached after the 1992 riots. There are many political leaders who try to control the area and many builders who want to make a fast buck.”
Yavatkar added that the redevelopment of the Korba Mithagar slums has been planned very properly. There are many tracts that were owned by central government, which could lead to clashes between the state and the centre over ownership of the land, he said.