SRA — Slum Rehabilitation Authority Mumbai

The Slum Rehabilitation Authority — SRA — was set up in 1995 under a bipartisan Maharashtra policy to rehabilitate Mumbai's slum residents into permanent free housing, while allowing private developers to build saleable towers on the same land in exchange for constructing the rehab component. It remains one of the largest slum-rehabilitation programmes in the world by scale — over 2 lakh families rehabilitated across roughly 1,500 projects in the last three decades. SRA is not a lottery. It is an eligibility-and-consent programme rooted in physical possession of a specific hut before a fixed cut-off date.

The core deal and the cut-off date

The heart of SRA is a simple exchange. If your hut existed on the land in question before the notified cut-off date, you are entitled to a free permanent flat of at least 300 square feet carpet in a new building constructed by a private developer on the same land. In exchange, the developer receives development rights to build additional saleable inventory on that land, which they sell in the open market to recover project cost.

The cut-off has been revised repeatedly. Originally it was 1 January 1995, then extended to 1 January 2000, and then further to 1 January 2011 under the Development Control and Promotion Regulations 2034. Whether your hut qualifies depends on the specific cut-off applicable to your slum's SRA project — and this is the single most important paperwork question for any prospective SRA beneficiary.

What "eligibility" actually means in practice

The Assistant Registrar in SRA verifies eligibility by matching a set of documents against the cut-off. The commonly accepted proofs are the electoral roll entry showing the applicant at the hut address before the cut-off, a ration card issued in the applicant's name at that address, an electricity bill in the name of the head of household, or an Aadhaar / earlier photo ID with the same address. Not every document is accepted — the electoral roll is the strongest — and the eligibility list is publicly displayed at the SRA site office before the developer starts construction.

Families who cannot produce the electoral roll but can produce two of the other supporting documents can still qualify, but the process takes longer and objections from the developer or from neighbouring residents are common.

Consent — the political flashpoint

For an SRA project to move, at least 51% of eligible hut owners must consent to the redevelopment. In practice, this is where SRA projects stall for years. Getting 51% consent involves navigating internal politics of the slum society, dealing with local political leaders, and — increasingly since 2020 — accepting a higher transit-rent commitment from the developer during construction. Many SRA projects announced in the mid-2000s took a decade to reach the consent threshold, and some are still stuck.

If you are the eligible resident of a hut in a slum that has not yet moved to SRA, this is a genuine long-timeline decision — the reward is a free permanent flat with a formal title deed, but the delivery timeline is typically 4-8 years from consent to possession.

Transit rent — where readers actually get short-changed

Once your hut is demolished for SRA construction, the developer is required to pay you monthly transit rent so you can live elsewhere until the new flat is ready. The current SRA-mandated transit rent varies by area — typically ₹15,000–₹25,000 per month in Mumbai's central and suburban slums — and is paid in advance annually.

The systematic problem we see reader complaints about is transit rent going unpaid or being paid late as the project drags. If a developer misses rent for more than a specified number of months, SRA can transfer the project to a new developer, but the process is administrative and slow. The safeguard for residents is to insist on advance rent payment for the year in one lump sum, and to keep signed receipts for every payment — SRA formally recognises non-payment of transit rent as a ground for project reassignment.

What the finished SRA flat is worth — and cannot be sold immediately

The rehab flat is delivered free with the physical possession and, eventually, a formal conveyance to the newly-formed Cooperative Housing Society. However, there is a 10-year lock-in — the rehab flat cannot be sold in the open market for 10 years from the date of allotment. This is written into the SRA rules to prevent quick flipping of free housing. After the 10-year lock-in, the flat becomes a saleable asset with a formal title, subject to CHS conveyance being complete.

Where SRA fits in Mumbai's affordable housing map

SRA is not an application process you enter voluntarily — it is only available if you already live in a slum that qualifies for redevelopment. For applicants who are NOT current slum residents, SRA is not the route; look at MHADA Mumbai Board and CIDCO Navi Mumbai lotteries instead. For current slum residents, the practical work is documentation (electoral rolls, ration cards, earlier photo IDs matching the hut address before the cut-off) — this is what determines whether you receive the free flat when your slum's project moves.

Every active SRA-linked scheme currently on our site is listed below with the applicable cut-off date, eligibility criteria and current project status. Always verify eligibility with the SRA site office at sra.gov.in — SRA does not accept "applications" through agents, and any agent demanding a fee for SRA eligibility is a warning sign.