Mumbai re-examines the pagdi system as safety concerns, stalled redevelopment and heritage loss fuel calls for reform in 2026 | Representational Image
Mumbai’s pagdi system was never meant to last this long. Born of colonial-era improvisation, it went on to shape tenancy and community life in the city for decades. What began as a practical workaround to British property taxation, after Independence evolved into a protective framework that allowed generations of working-class Mumbaikars to live with stability and dignity. However, in 2026, the question is no longer whether pagdi once served the city well; it is whether it still does?
Colonial origins and post-Independence protection
The origins of pagdi can be traced to pre-Independence Bombay, when landlords accepted a one-time “goodwill” payment in exchange for long-term tenancy at modest rents, partly to navigate the burden of colonial levies.
The word pagdi, meaning turban, evoked honour, trust and a handshake agreement rather than a formal contract. After 1947, the Bombay Rent Control Act formalised these arrangements, freezing rents and making eviction extremely difficult.
In a city facing acute housing shortages, this was a socially necessary intervention. It limited displacement, anchored communities and offered security in an uncertain urban economy.
Structural decay and redevelopment paralysis
However, the system gradually revealed its structural limits. Rents frozen at nominal levels removed any meaningful incentive for upkeep, leaving thousands of buildings in advanced stages of deterioration.
Mumbai today has an estimated 19,000 pagdi properties, many of them structurally compromised, housing hundreds of thousands of residents in increasingly unsafe conditions.
More than 13,000 buildings remain stuck in redevelopment limbo, while nearly 28,000 cases continue to clog the courts. What was once a shield against exploitation has, in many cases, become a trap, endangering lives, locking up land and paralysing renewal in a city that can ill afford stagnation.
Heritage caught in slow erosion
There is another, often overlooked, consequence of this prolonged stasis: the quiet loss of heritage itself. Many pagdi buildings are not merely old; they are architecturally and culturally significant, forming part of Mumbai’s layered urban identity.
Yet the current framework offers no viable pathway for their upkeep or conservation. Starved of maintenance, denied meaningful intervention and trapped in legal and financial paralysis, these structures are left to deteriorate until collapse becomes inevitable.
At this point, demolition is presented as the only option. In effect, a system intended to protect the past is accelerating its erasure.
State signals shift towards ‘pagdi-free Mumbai’
It is against this backdrop that the state government’s recent articulation of a move towards a “pagdi-free Mumbai” must be understood. Announced in December 2025, the proposal appears to favour redevelopment-led resolution over abrupt repeal, reflecting an acknowledgement of the challenges posed by an ageing and increasingly unsafe building fabric.
Concerns around displacement and speculative redevelopment are valid and deserve careful attention. At the same time, the growing risks posed by structures that are no longer structurally sound cannot be ignored.
Delhi’s experience offers a cautionary parallel
Delhi’s experience offers a useful point of reference. The Delhi Rent Control Act of 1958, much like Mumbai’s pagdi system, froze rents and strengthened tenant protections in the immediate post-partition years. As time passed, it produced familiar outcomes: dilapidated properties, stalled investment and prolonged litigation.
In July 2025, the Delhi High Court explicitly flagged the Act’s obsolescence, noting its misuse by affluent tenants and urging legislative modernisation—an observation that aligns with the broader shift towards the Model Tenancy Act.
This judicial nudge reflects a growing consensus that rigid rent controls, once socially necessary, have since constrained urban renewal by discouraging maintenance, while disproportionately benefiting a narrow segment of long-term occupants.
A farewell that balances safety, dignity and heritage
Mumbai’s challenge, however, is distinct. Its pagdi stock is older, denser and more deeply entangled with redevelopment politics. What is needed now is a carefully designed farewell to the system—one that honours its role in stabilising the city while acknowledging its unsustainability today.
Reform must place safety, dignity and meaningful heritage preservation at its core, supported by incentives for voluntary transition, transparent compensation, assured relocation, and rehabilitation frameworks comparable in quality and location.
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Ankieta Kothari is the founder of The Bombay Blueprint, a public platform chronicling Mumbai’s architecture, heritage and evolving urban land.
