Mumbai, Jan. 31 -- Twenty three families residing in Haji Noorani Chawl in Elphinstone Road who will be evicted to make way for the Sewri Worli Elevated Corridor have urged the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to rehabilitate them in the cluster redevelopment project underway in their neighbourhood. Most of the families have been allotted rehabilitation homes in distant parts of the city like Wadala, Antop Hill and Jacob Circle, in contravention of the MMRDA's promise of rehabilitation within a 2-3 kilometre radius, the Haji Noorani Chawl Residents Welfare Association said in a letter to the MMRDA dated January 27. "While collecting allotment letters for rehabilitation homes, we learnt that some residents of Haji Noorani Chawl will be accommodated in the redevelopment project being executed by L&T Realty in the neighbourhood...Therefore, we request you to permit our entire building to be part of the cluster redevelopment," the letter said. The cluster redevelopment project, comprising 17 buildings in the vicinity of the elevated corridor, is pending approval from the state urban development department, MMRDA officials said. As per the revised plan for the Sewri Worli Elevated Corridor, the project will affect two buildings - Haji Noorani Chawl and Laxmi Niwas, housing 23 and 60 families, respectively. Residents of these buildings had stalled demolition of the Elphinstone Road bridge, which is being pulled down to make way for the elevated corridor, in April 2025, seeking in situ rehabilitation. Before the bridge was finally pulled down in September 2025, the MMRDA promised to rehabilitate the 83 Projecf Affected Persons (PAPs) within a 2-3 kilometre radius, in empty flats constructed by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA). Around the same time, chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis assured that they would be accommodated in the proposed cluster redevelopment project in the neighbourhood. The MMRDA has now issued allotment letters to most PAPs, providing them tenements at different locations. Among Haji Noorani Chawl residents, 11 families have been allotted flats in Wadala and Antop Hill, four near Tilak Bhavan in Dadar, and the remaining spread across other locations. The residents have also been asked to pay Rs.12-20 lakh towards additional space in the rehabilitation units compared to their current homes. Speaking to Hindustan Times, Munaf Thakur, secretary of the Haji Noorani Chawl Residents Welfare Association, accused the MMRDA of reneging on its promise. "We were told that we would be rehabilitated within a 3 km radius, and rehabilitation homes would be shown to us before allotment. Neither has happened," Thakur alleged. The buildings in Wadala and Antop Hill where 11 families have been allotted flats do not have functional elevators and are unsafe due the presence of drug addicts, residents told HT. "We are reluctant to shift there after seeing the buildings. But the MMRDA is arm-twisting us, saying if we do not accept allotment letters and pay for additional space, they will give us peanuts as final compensation," Thakur alleged. He reiterated residents' demand for in situ rehabilitation, and said the tenements currently allotted to Haji Noorani Chawl PAPs should be considered transit homes and they should all be rehabilitated in the cluster redevelopment project once it is ready. "Until the cluster redevelopment project is ready, we are ready to move to locations where we are being allotted homes by the MMRDA," he said. Rohit Mayekar, a resident of Haji Noorani Chawl, said the chief minister had assured them of in-situ rehabilitation, and the promise could still be kept. "We urge the chief minister and MMRDA officials to reconsider their decision and allow us to be part of the cluster redevelopment project," Mayekar said. Earlier this month, L&T Realty bought the 1.34-acre Khatri Estate near Haji Noorani Chawl for Rs.448.6 crore, to develop commercial office buildings. The company is in the process of acquiring 17 residential buildings in the area for the proposed cluster redevelopment project. It is currently conducting surveys of existing structures and families, residents of the locality said. Additional metropolitan commissioner Vikram Kumar did not respond to queries from HT regarding PAPs' concerns. Residents of the adjacent Laxmi Niwas also did not respond to HT's queries....