MUMBAI, April 6 -- It's simple arithmetic but the answer is staggering: 75,000 minus 8,000 equals 67,000 - the gap the BMC must bridge to get some of Mumbai's key infrastructure projects off the ground. The 67,000 refers to apartment units for project affected persons (PAPs), who must be rehabilitated for these big-ticket projects to roll. The numbers come from a PAP survey undertaken by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in 2023; there's been no follow-up since. According to the survey, around 75,000 households across Mumbai were in the path of major projects such as the Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR), new flyovers and bridges that needed to be rebuilt, and smaller projects such as the widening of roads, rivers or nallas, and augmenting the city's water pipelines. And, yet, the housing stock for PAPs is critically low. "The BMC has around 3,000 tenements near Anik Depot in Sion and 5,000 units in Mankhurd. We are unable to offer rehabilitation in Mahul due to Bombay High Court restrictions," said a senior BMC official. All told, this adds up to 8,000 tenements, a long way from the 75,000 required. In his budgetary policy statement for the year 2025-26, former municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani had said in February that 34,129 PAP tenements across the city had been approved until then. With 1,500 expected to be ready soon - just 2% of the required 75,000 units - the remaining 32,629 would be ready in the next two to five years, Gagrani said. That's if all goes to plan. So why the hold-up? Housing activists say the push for urban renewal is unprecedented, moving faster than it can realistically be implemented, especially in a space-starved city. "We need 1,600 PAP houses for the Poisar River rejuvenation project; 800 units for the GMLR; and 1,600 for the Maghathane-Goregaon Link Road," said additional municipal commissioner (projects), Abhijit Bangar. This adds up to more than half the 8,000 PAP units currently available - and that's only accounting for three projects. There's another reason PAP housing stock is abysmally low, one that relates to the quid pro quo between the BMC and private developers in a city where every inch of real estate is paved in gold. Under Regulation 3(11) of the DCPR 2034, the BMC encourages private builders to construct PAP homes in exchange for TDR benefits they can use in projects elsewhere. Ironically, it's a win-win for developers and the BMC, not the intended beneficiary - the PAP. "In Gazdar Bandh, Santacruz, ineligible families were declared as eligible by scamsters after acquiring their stakes, thus depriving genuine project affected people, who have been displaced by a nallah-widening project. Often such PAP houses are occupied by illegal occupants," alleges Congress corporator Meher Mohsin Haider. She also asks why the BMC is purchasing PAP flats from private builders instead of getting them at much cheaper rates from the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), which is bound to hand over 1% of its housing stock to the BMC for PAPs. "The civic body is spending astronomical sums on private developers to construct PAP flats on them, in lieu for TDR," says Haider, referring to a 44,000-sq m private plot in Andheri west, where the BMC was to receive 10,000 PAP homes after paying the developer Rs.1,600 crore. Housing activist Bilal Khan says the shortfall in PAP units is not always real. In March 2018, in a response to his RTI query, Khan realised that the BMC had surplus PAP units in various parts of Mumbai, but instead directed the affected families to Mahul, a location later banned for rehabilitation by the Bombay High Court due to its high pollution levels. "The SRA had provided information that it had handed 22,497 units to the BMC, 25,536 to MMRDA and 3,767 to MMRCL. When we raised this issue in court, the BMC in its affidavit claimed it had kept 'reserve housing stock' for future projects," alleges Khan of the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan. Activist Kamlakar Shenoy says one of the main reasons for the shortfall in PAP allotments is that the rehab homes built for displaced families are blatantly sold to home buyers at market rates in the open market, allegedly in connivance with civic officials. "This has created an artificially shortage of PAP housing, resulting in public harassment, delays in infrastructure projects, and massive cost escalation. There is no real shortage," alleges Shenoy, who has raised the issue with various anti-corruption agencies. Another factor stacked against PAPs is the tendency to regard them as an inconvenient statistic, prioritising projects over people and offering compensation at Ready Reckoner rates, well below market value. According to the BMC's monetary compensation policy, PAPs who lose their homes are eligible for compensation between Rs.25 lakh and Rs.40 lakh, depending on the size of the home, calculated on the basis of the Ready Reckoner. However, Rs.40 lakh is the upper limit, regardless of the size of the PAP's home. "Considering the steep real estate prices in Mumbai, it is difficult for people to accept our rates of monetary compensation," admits an official. Struggling with the fallout of the alleged corruption in the PAP system is the displacement of affected families to houses built for them in the distant suburbs. Property prices here are not high, making these areas low priority for builders - and high priority for PAP rehabilitation. "My elderly parents, aged 86 and 85, were allotted a home in Mankhurd," says Vijay Chandmare, who lives with his family and parents in Jogeshwari west. Their home was in the path of a DP Road alongside the double-deck flyover being built on the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR). The flyover will provide a signal-free commute from Andheri west to JVLR. "We refused to accept the allotted house since it is far from here. Also, it is on the fourth floor and there is no lift. How would my parents manage," shrugs Vijay. The Chandmares are now renting a home Goregaon while chasing BMC officials to get a PAP unit closer to their old home. "Each time I approach BMC officials, asking for an alternative unit closer home, I am told there are no houses available for PAPs in our neighbourhood," says Vijay. Around 5km away, at Yari Road, Pallavi Jadhav, 47, and 25-odd neighbours have been marking time after civic officials started surveying their area for a road-widening project. "We have been living here for generations. Our biggest fear is being offered rehabilitation in Mahul, which is known for poor air quality," says Jadhav. The worst part, she adds, is the sense of powerlessness over their fate. "Who will listen to us?" A senior BMC official, however, said the corporation has introduced a centralised dashboard, with information on all PAP houses, that helps maintain transparency. "Various wards or departments can claim the PAP houses, which they may need for their projects. Priority is given for people within the same wards and administrative zones, then to projects beyond. This ensures that people get houses closer to their original homes." The BMC says it is working on policy decisions that will increase the PAP housing stock. "We are trying to convert transit camps built by the SRA into tenements for PAPs. A policy proposal for this is being worked out with the Slum Redevelopment Authority (SRA) to the state government," says Bangar. However, housing activists and elected representatives point out that PAPs will get their due only if the BMC gives them the priority - and the dignity - they deserve. At the very first meeting of the newly constituted civic improvements committee recently, corporators raised the issue of corruption in the allocation of PAP housing. Congress group leader Ashraf Azmi alleged that BMC officials were indifferent to the issue, while Deepak Tawde of the BJP alleged that builders were renting or selling the PAP units they were to hand over to the BMC. Joint municipal commissioner (improvements) Sanjog Kabre said a joint coordination committee has been set up which includes officials from the BMC, MMRDA, MHADA SRA and collectors' offices. It meets every quarter in the year, to address this issue....