Mumbai's BDD chawls named after Rajiv Gandhi, Balasaheb and Pawar

The Maharashtra government on Thursday said it has renamed the centuryold clusters of eyesore matchbox tenements commonly known as British Development Department BDD chawls after three prominent leadersWhile the BDD Chawl in Worli has been named after the Shiv Sena founder as Balasaheb Thackeray Nagar the cluster on NM Joshi Marg shall be henceforth known as Rajiv Gandhi Nagar and the third one in Naigaon has been rechristened as Sharad Pawar Nagar after the Nationalist Congress President supremo said Housing Minister Jitendra AwhadThe three major erstwhile BDD chawls complexes where once Mahatma Gandhi spent a night among the Mehtar Samaj sweepers in 1937 are currently undergoing what is billed as Asias biggest redevelopment project worth Rs 20000 crore started in August 2021Built between 19211924 there are a total of 207 groundplusthreestorey buildings each with identical 160sq feet facetoface chawls a 20feet wide centre passage common water supply bathing and toilet areas housing around 17000 families and spread across 93 acres of the most prime chunks of land in south MumbaiDr Awhad said that the work on the complexes is progressing well and all the residents shall get their new homes over the next five years in the upcoming 32 swank towers with 500sqfeet 2BHK ultramodern flats and other top amenities bringing a seachange to their livesBeing built by Tatas LampT and Shapoorji Pallonji for different projects the wellplanned new complexes will have 40storied and 22floor tall towers with floors for parking wide roads at least 4 four schools welfare centres minihospitals gardens playgrounds markets and shopping plazasBesides Mahatma Gandhi a regular visitor there was the Chief Architect of Indian Constitution Bharat Ratna Dr BR Ambedkar who had planted a Peepal sapling which has now bloomed into a gigantic shady treeMonths before his assassination May 1991 the former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Rajiv Gandhi then the Leader of Opposition was delayed for an evening rally in the Gandhi Maidan here but finally turned up early the next morning around 330 am but the venue was full of enthusiastic though groggyeyed people still waiting to hear him outThe other prominent products of BDD Chawls include the founder of Republican Party of India and exGovernor of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar 19731977 Dr R D Bhandare legendary test cricketer Ramnath Parker Ranji Trophy player Sanjay Patil prominent Dalit activists former Mumbai Mayor Nandu Satam 1988199 litterateurs like Bhausaheb Adsul Vishwasrao Bhosale Samrat Editor Babban Kamble et alAt the Worli BDD Chawl Nos 89 to 92 inhabited by many Indian Railway employees a train engine used to chug upto the buildings adjacent to the railway lines pick up the staffers in the morning and drop them back in the eveningA popular shooting locale for scores of Bollywood Marathi films and teleserials there are two dedicated BDD Chawl sets in Raigad and Thane and the chawl culture has been immortalised in many essays documentaries Marathi Hindi and English booksThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever