In Mumbai city, presently there are 17 textile mill plots that have still not gone for redevelopment. Together they occupy approximately 190 acres of land. The state government’s move to amend the Development Control Regulations (DCR) on textile mill development has the potential to generate approximately 130 acres of land of the 190 acres of land for public use, mostly in central Mumbai. It can be evenly split to construct gardens and playgrounds on the one hand and affordable houses on the other.

Thirteen of the plots are owned by the National Textile Corporation (NTC), while the remaining four are privately owned. These are mostly in the Parel-Lalbaug belt, erstwhile Girangaon — the land of textile mills.

The Urban Development Department (UDD), on July 7, issued a notification where it mandated that during the redevelopment of mill lands, one-third would go to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada), one-third would be developed into open spaces and playgrounds, and the remaining would be given to the mill owner for redevelopment.

According to Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI), it is a good move, but it has come too late. They can create some good amenities as well as open spaces on this land, said Pankaj Joshi, executive director, UDRI.

The National Textiles Corporation (NTC) has 13 mills, of which five have closed down, four are running in Joint Ventures (JV) with different private companies and the remaining four are operational.

Under a formula for allowing development of land under defunct mills, the state government made a provision in the Development Control Rules allowing private owners as well as the NTC to develop their land if they surrender two-third of the land for affordable housing as well as public amenities like playgrounds and gardens. The mills owners, lured by the real estate boom, began the redevelopment process.

Through an amendment in the DCR in 2001 amendment (made during the tenure of former chief minister late Vilasrao Deshmukh), the state ruled that only the vacant land should divided while the portion occupied by mill structures would remain with the owners. The Devendra Fadnavis government has restored the original decision now.

Mill workers unions called it a good move. Datta Ishwalkar, who heads the Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti said that the government can start with the six NTC closed mills and since they are owned by the Central Government, there should be no problem. This move will make more houses available to the mill workers who have worked hard their entire life in these mills.

Mumbai had 56 textile mills that occupied a staggering 600 acres of land and employed more than 2.5 lakh workers. The textile mills were the lifeline of the city till the 1982 strike following a tussle between the managements and the workers’ unions over the wages to be paid to the workers. The prolonged strike and the adamant stand taken by the mill owners, however, proved to the disastrous for the textile mills and collapse of the whole industry in the city.

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