MUMBAI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday presented the keys of new houses to a few families affected by the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) and the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP), which are being implemented by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

About 50,000 houses for families who are affected by the projects are ready and 8,000 more will be built. Ms. Gandhi dedicated the houses to the project-affected families at a simple function in Shivaji Nagar where the builders were also present.

Later addressing party workers at a rally in northeast Mumbai, Ms. Gandhi said while the city was gearing up its infrastructure, those who are affected by it should not be left by the wayside. She praised the State Government for building the houses within a year. The houses were being handed over to the people on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the Congress party.

She said when one looked back at the history of the Congress, it was replete with sacrifices by many leaders and this had to be taken forward. "We must never think our work is truly done. For a political worker once a task has been completed, they have to set forth on another task," she said. The problems of a city such as Mumbai are complex and the answers must be found from within. While there is a need to develop, there must be some attempt to improve people's lives as well, she said. People who are affected by projects must be resettled specially since those who are usually affected are the poor. The State Government must take their plight into consideration.

Exhorting party workers to be alert, she said Mumbai was the commercial capital of the country and it was necessary that workers knew about crucial decisions so that they could create awareness about them. She gave the examples of the various laws the UPA Government had passed and said that party workers must know about all the various new schemes and laws. Workers must also take up people's issues and create a better understanding about them.

When the Congress workers looked at other parties, Ms. Gandhi said that they would feel reassured that their party was not in such a bad situation. She called on people to work together and solve issues. She said when we get rid of our greed and selfishness a lot of problems can be solved. The Congress has a history of people who believed the party and principles were above people and power. She said this was worth emulating.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said Rs. 1,500 crore was being spent on resettling those affected by the various city projects and houses were being built at 31 locations in the city. Apart from Mr. Deshmukh, Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Prabha Rau, Margaret Alva, Congress MPs Gurudas Kamat, Eknath Gaikwad, Priya Dutt, and several MLAs and Ministers were also present.

Coalition governance

PTI reports:

In Pune, Ms. Gandhi said that the Congress and the Government led by the party in Maharashtra would make every effort to deal with problems relating to coalition governance.

"Though it is not possible to frame all rules while running the coalition government, we will fight to strengthen the party in the State to overcome the problems,'' she said, addressing party workers.

Ms. Gandhi participated in the platinum jubilee function of the Muslim Cooperative Bank and inaugurated the printing unit of the Marathi daily Lokmat.

Asking the leaders to rebuild the party from the grassroots level, she appealed all Ministers belonging to the party to visit rural areas and deal with the problems of the people.

"Our party has different status in every State and we have to live with it. The only way to build the party is to reach the people," she said.

Ms. Gandhi unveiled a statue of the martyr Narayan Dabhade who had participated in `Bharat chhodo andolan' of 1942.

Addressing the platinum jubilee function, she said the 15-point programme of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi would be revived by the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.

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