India’s Biggest Urban Makeover Means Free Homes for 20,000
ByBhendi Bazaar becomes model for modernizing crumbling housing.
Shabbir Arsiwala’s family has lived for 100 years in a prime area of Mumbai in a noisy, two-room apartment he calls “foul-smelling and claustrophobic,” where a bucket placed along the peeling-paint-flecked walls collects dripping water and blue plastic sheeting keeps out rain. Soon, the 69-year-old former owner of a glass shop and his family will get a new, bigger home for free in one of 17 gleaming residential towers in India’s largest-ever urban redevelopment project.
“I am happy we will be getting new homes,” said Arsiwala, who with his wife, son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren will move to nearby temporary housing while their building is demolished then reconstructed in four or five years. “I want to live the balance of my life in peace.”…
