Activists Urge Maharashtra To Treat Unauthorized Buildings Like Slums, Propose New ‘UBRA’ Law To Stop Mass Homelessness

Policy paper calls for extending SRA-style rehabilitation to residents of illegal buildings as demolitions threaten 21 lakh families across Maharashtra

A group of activists and researchers in Mumbai has called on the Maharashtra government to urgently create a new legal framework to protect people living in so-called “illegal” or unauthorized buildings, warning that current demolition drives could push over 21 lakh families into homelessness across the state. 🏠

At a press conference, the team unveiled a detailed policy document proposing an “Unauthorized Building Rehabilitation Act (UBRA)”, or the extension of the existing Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) model to residents of such structures. The proposal has been prepared under the guidance of Dr. Danish Lambe, who described it as a constitutional and humane response to an unfolding urban housing crisis.

The initiative is supported by senior activist Ismail Bhatliwala, social workers Shiv Narayan Krantiveer and Sonika Krantiveer, and others who have conducted fact-finding visits to demolition sites in areas such as Mumbra, Kalyan-Dombivli, Pune and Mumbai’s suburbs.

Mr. Salim Alware played a key role in helping organise the press event and ensuring that the discussions were structured and accessible to the media. While not the main organiser, he was instrumental in coordinating the flow of the programme, liaising with participants, and setting the tone for the gathering. Alware delivered the inaugural address, briefly outlining the purpose of the meeting and emphasising why the proposed framework for unauthorized building rehabilitation deserves urgent attention from the State. His contribution, the speakers noted, helped anchor the event and provided a clear starting point for the policy presentation that followed.

From footpath to flat — and back to the street?

The speakers contrasted two sharply different stories of Maharashtra.

On one side is the familiar success narrative: since the 1970s, when people living on pavements and road margins were removed for road widening, government offices and urban projects, courts stepped in and held that “right to life under Article 21 includes the right to shelter.”

Landmark cases like Sudarshan Singh vs GNCT, Rituparna Mohanty vs State of Odisha and Ajay Maken vs Union of India (among others cited in the policy) established that eviction without rehabilitation violates the Constitution. On that constitutional foundation, Maharashtra developed the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme, eventually giving around 2,45,000 families formal housing under the SRA framework over several decades.

“This is Maharashtra’s heart,” Dr. Lambe said, highlighting how slum dwellers were shifted first from roads to notified slum pockets and then into rehabilitation buildings. “The State showed the country, even the world, that you cannot simply push people off the streets without offering them a roof.”

The activists then asked the uncomfortable follow-up: why does this principle not apply to families living in buildings that are later declared ‘illegal’?

27,000 buildings under notice, 3,400 already hit, 21 lakh families at risk

Using statistics compiled from major newspapers and public reports (with RTI data to follow), the policy paper estimates that around 27,000 buildings across different municipal corporations in Maharashtra have received notices for demolition as unauthorized constructions.

Out of these, approximately 3,400 buildings have already been partially or fully demolished, often with residents having little time to relocate. Many families are now living on roadsides, in rented rooms they can barely afford, or in temporary shelters created by relatives.

According to the team’s projection, when you multiply the number of buildings by average household size and occupancy, nearly 21 lakh families could be pushed into homelessness if existing demolition orders are implemented without any rehabilitation.

The contrast is stark:

2.45 lakh families have been rehabilitated through SRA over 25–30 years.
Up to 21 lakh families could be rendered homeless in a much shorter period through demolitions of so-called illegal buildings.

“What kind of imbalance is this?” Dr. Lambe asked. “On one hand the State takes decades to house a few lakh families, and on the other hand, it can uproot several times that number with a single demolition drive.” ⚖️

‘System failure, not just buyer fault’

The policy document strongly challenges the narrative that residents of unauthorized buildings are solely to blame for their fate.

Many of these buyers, the activists argue, purchased flats in ‘good faith’:

Builders often advertised projects openly.
Municipal corporations did not intervene when the buildings were under construction or being sold.
Flats were sold under notarised or even registered agreements.
Residents regularly paid property tax, electricity bills and water charges, believing this meant their building was regularised.
In some cases, as in Kalyan-Dombivli, even fake RERA certificates were allegedly used to win public trust.

If the State collects taxes and allows connections for power and water, the team argues, it cannot later treat the same residents as willful offenders without offering rehabilitation or a legal escape route.

“This is not an individual crime story; it is a system failure,” Dr. Lambe said. “From planners to municipal officers to political patrons and builders — everyone participates in the creation of unauthorized buildings. Only the end user loses everything.”

The core demand: Extend SRA-style protection to unauthorized buildings

To address this, the group’s central demand is clear:

“Extend the Slum Rehabilitation Framework to Unauthorized Buildings.”

In practical terms, the proposed UBRA framework or SRA extension would work on similar lines to the existing slum scheme:

Identify and survey residents of unauthorized buildings, just as slum structures were counted.
Treat the current occupants as beneficiaries, not criminals, provided they are not the builder or conspirators.
Allow developers to rehabilitate these families in properly planned, approved buildings on the same or nearby land.
Offer additional FSI (Floor Space Index) or other incentives so that developers can build both rehab units and sale units, ensuring zero direct financial burden on the State, similar to SRA.
Simultaneously create a strict enforcement mechanism so that no new unauthorized buildings can come up while the scheme is underway.

The team stresses that UBRA is not a bailout for corrupt builders, but a shield for innocent families who invested their life savings into homes that were allowed to be constructed in full public view.

Fact-finding from Mumbra to Mumbai: why a statewide solution is needed

Veteran activist Ismail Bhatliwala recounted how the idea matured after multiple fact-finding visits.

On 17 September, a team including Dr. Danish Lambe, Ismail Bhatliwala, Shiv Narayan Krantiveer, Sonika Krantiveer and others visited Mumbra to study demolition-affected colonies. On 25 September, affected residents from Mumbra met the team in Mumbai’s Mira Road for detailed discussions. A second visit followed on 19 October.

After meeting families, children and women whose houses had been demolished, the group concluded that fighting case-by-case for each building or colony would never be enough.

“If we try to save one building at a time, we will lose the war,” Bhatliwala said. “The problem is spread across Maharashtra — in Mumbai, Mumbra, Kalyan-Dombivli, Pune, Nashik and beyond. We need a statewide policy change, not just goodwill gestures.”

He praised Dr. Lambe for preparing the policy draft — a 20–22 page document — in a very short time, calling it “a rare instance where activists are not just giving speeches but placing a concrete legislative draft before the government.” 🙌

Plan: From press conference to Mantralaya and Raj Bhavan

The team has announced a clear political outreach roadmap. Copies of the policy document will be sent to:

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra
Both Deputy Chief Ministers
Governor of Maharashtra
Housing Minister Eknath Shinde, who also oversees MHADA, SRA and PWD
MLAs, MLCs and Members of Parliament from the state
Municipal commissioners of major corporations like Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, Pune and others

They are urging that the proposal be taken up for discussion in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and Council, and that the government either:

Incorporate UBRA into the existing SRA Act, or
Enact a separate Unauthorized Building Rehabilitation Act with similar protections and mechanisms.

The activists insist the demand is non-partisan:

“We are not doing this for or against any party. The Constitution is our only side. No innocent family should be thrown from home to footpath without rehabilitation.”

Here is a crisp, newsroom-standard paragraph you can place in the middle or near the end of the article:

Shiv Narayan Krantiveer and Sonika Krantiveer, both members of the fact-finding team, shared insights from their visits to demolition-affected neighbourhoods and highlighted the profound emotional and financial impact on families, particularly women and children. Their ground observations strengthened the team’s position that accountability must extend to those responsible for permitting and constructing such buildings. Within this context, they noted that the community’s growing sentiment also leans toward exploring a potential PIL against the actual culprits, ensuring that innocent homebuyers are not repeatedly punished for systemic failures.

A Maharashtra model for a national crisis

While the immediate focus is on Maharashtra, the speakers emphasised that unauthorized constructions, selective demolitions and mass displacement are a reality in many Indian cities — from Delhi to Madhya Pradesh to Odisha.

By crafting a robust rehabilitation framework that protects homebuyers while tightening the noose on corrupt builders, conniving officials and repeat offenders, Maharashtra could once again set a national benchmark in humane urban policy, just as it did with the original SRA model.

“In the 1970s you resettled people from the streets to homes,” Dr. Lambe said. “Today the challenge is to stop people from being pushed from homes back to the streets. The law must evolve with the crisis.” 🏙️

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