Ever since she left Guwahati and reached Mumbai ten years ago, Anawari Shaikh has been making houses for others. She is a construction worker who stays in slums frequently uprooted during demolition drives. And now she may own a house herself.

Shaikh is one of the 3,500 families from Mandala slums in Mankhurd living on the fringes for the last four years after their shanties repeatedly came under the bulldozer as part of the state government’s slum demolition drive.

Their shanties, built post-1995, had no legal protection to claim right to housing. But in what could be a unique project if approved, these slum-dwellers have submitted a housing project to the central government under the Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP).

BSUP is one of the components of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM ).

“I have built homes for so many people, I am capable of building a home for my family too,” said Anawari who would be among the many slum-dwellers who will work as labourers on the project in case it is approved. Many others would chip in with services as plumbers, carpenters, electricians and the like in a project which will not involve any developer in any way.

The activist group Ghar Banao Ghar Bachao, which has mobilised slum dwellers for the project, has submitted a proposal to the state housing department as well as the Central Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry, which handles BSUP.

On the direction of the central ministry, the Housing And Urban Development Corporation Ltd has given its report on the feasibility of the project at Mandala.

If approved, half the money for the Rs 156-crore proposal would be given by the centre, 25% by the state and the remaining in equal shares by the urban local body and the community, the slum dwellers in this case. The project aims at 58 four-storeyed buildings as well as balwadis, schools, dispensaries, markets and other civic amenities.

While housing secretary Sitaram Kunte was away and unavailable for comment, D Hadadare, chief engineer for MHADA (the nodal agency for BSUP in Mumbai) said, “Unlike the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme, BSUP doesn’t specify any cut-off date as eligibility criteria. However, no other group of slum dwellers from Mumbai has come forward with any community participation proposal under BSUP so far. If it is implemented it would be the first-of-its-kind project.”

The land, on which the project is proposed, was reserved for rehabilitating slum dwellers prior to 2000 whose homes were mowed down. “Only about 50 such families have been rehabilitated on that land so far. Of the total 55 acre land, we have asked for 14 acres for the project. The people here are ready to pay whatever price the government demands,” said Simpreet Singh from Ghar Banao Ghar Bacho Andolan.

“We are not asking for free houses. Even now, we pay a rent of Rs 1,000 per month for our shanties and another good sum for illegal electricity connection and water supply. We are willing to put in the money and labour if we are allowed to go ahead with the project,” said local resident Amravati Chaudhari.