Mumbai, Aug. 14 -- His blue-rimmed sunglasses rest on his forehead as Ashish Pratap matches names on a list with personalised printed invitations to the ceremony for allotment of the first batch of redeveloped Bombay Development Department (BDD) Chawl tenements on Thursday. Pratap works in an event management company and is well-travelled. His seven-year-old daughter is a fourth-generation resident of the BDD Chawl in Worli. His name is not on the list bearing 556 names of residents who are set to receive the keys to their new 500 sq ft homes in the 40-storey high-rise built on prime real estate to house the former residents of the chawl. "We are just doing this out of love. It may take another three years before I get my new house, but I grew up in the BDD Chawl in Worli. Our homes were always open, so I could just go into my neighbour's house and eat whenever I felt like it. It has always been like that here," said Pratap. He handed over an invitation bearing her family name to Ashalata Tawde, a senior citizen, lodged in the transit tenement on the 10th floor of a building in the Century Mill Workers Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (Mhada) Complex in Worli. Tawde lives in the 225 sq ft transit house with her son, daughter-in-law and grandson. She concedes that the journey to their new home has been a long one. "Now, it feels good," she said. The ceremony for allotment of the tenements to residents of the D and E wings of the redeveloped BDD Chawl in Worli will be held on Thursday in Matunga. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and his deputies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar will be in attendance. Vijay Bandivadekar, a BEST employee, was born in BDD Chawl No. 11 in Worli. His father, Dayawant Bandivadekar, was a textile mill worker who lived in the 160 sq ft chawl accommodation with his wife and five children. "It all started in 1995 when the idea for the redevelopment of BDD chawls was floated. In 1999, it was decided. At first, it was proposed to give us 225 sq ft houses in a building. For the generation before ours, the thought of moving into a block (flat) from a chawl was in itself a big thing. This was my father's dream," he said. Typically, in every BDD Chawl tenement, there were at least two brothers and their families, said Bandivadekar. "The new flat is a 2 BHK of 500 sq ft because it would suit the needs of most families," he added. For Raju Waghmare, the president of the Akhil BDD Chawl Sarvsangathanancha Ekatrit Sangh-the body that represents all the residents of the BDD Chawls in Naigaon, Worli, N M Joshi Marg and Sewri-the occasion is momentous both personally and politically. He studied in the verandah of Chawl No. 13 of the BDD Chawl in Naigaon to become a dentist. He hustled for eight years in Miami, USA, before returning to Mumbai, never once thinking of leaving the BDD Chawl. He joined the Shiv Sena last year after decades in the Congress, where, he felt his ambition was thwarted. But it all started with his father, Arvind Waghmare, who led the movement to get the first water tank in their chawl in the 1960s and later joined the Republican Party of India. Raju, however, said that their struggle had finally come to fruition. "We have finally turned those coming from 160 sq ft into crorepatis. But from getting 27 government resolutions amended, getting the area of redeveloped tenements of 500 sq ft, getting monthly interim rents increased to Rs.25,000, to getting Mhada to agree to cover the maintenance cost of the new buildings for 12 years, has not been without hurdles. We've struggled through it all," he said. In the Dalit-dominated BDD Chawls, Waghmare said, there was always a culture of bonhomie. "Between two chawl buildings, there was enough space. Occasions like engagements, naming ceremonies, and small gatherings were all held there. So, we had to make sure this culture remains intact. That is why facilities like a community hall and a library are also provided in the new buildings. Mhada always allots tenements through a lottery, but we asked them to house residents from the same chawls in the same towers. Even if they live on different floors, they will still be in the same tower and their bond will be preserved," he added. In 2016, the state government decided that Mhada would redevelop the BDD Chawls. In 2018, Mhada started the Rs.16,000 project to redevelop 121 BDD Chawls in Worli, 42 in Naigaon, 32 in NM Joshi Marg and 12 in Sewri. In 2021, Mhada began constructing 14 buildings at Worli, two of which are now ready....