Once Known as Don Arun Gawli's Fortress, Mumbai's Dagdi Chawl to be Replaced by Two Skyscrapers

Dagdi Chawl in Mumbai’s Byculla and home to don Arun Gawli will be making way for two sky-scrapers.

Ten chawls in this compound at Agripada in south-central Mumbai and owned by Gawli will be replaced by multi-storey towers, Hindustan Times reported.

Conforming to the development of her father’s house, Geeta Gawli, also a corporator of BMC, said all 350 tenants in the chawl will get houses of 450 square feet area. “We are at the planning stage and we have finalized a local builder to undertake this redevelopment,” she added.

The Mhada had recently issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) for this redevelopment. This was issued after the residents of Dagdi chawl gave their consent to the revamp process. ‘Now the builder will get their plans sanctioned from BMC. Then the eligibility of the tenants will be finalised and after that Mhada will issue an No Objection Certificate (NOC),’ Arun Dongre, Chief Officer(MBRRB) told TOI.

As per the Gawli family, which lives in the redeveloped building on the 4th floor, will also be part of this project. After 1987, when gang wars erupted in the city, Gawli and his men remained confined to these chawls. The chawl, the longstanding den of don Arun Gawli acted as a virtual fortress where no one was allowed inside without the mandatory checks by Gawli’s men. The tenants who lived in the chawl were also supporters of Gawli.

Arun Gawli ruled the underworld from Dagdi chawl. People dreaded visiting the Dagdi chawl due to its ill-reputation. It was made headlines due to frequent police raids in the mid-nineties after the Mumbai Police decided to take the underworld head-on.

The Saat Rasta-Byculla area around Dagdi Chawl has seen vertical development in the past two decades with several old buildings making way for skyscrapers.

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