Mumbai: The State government will set aside half of all future affordable homes in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) for housing for former mill workers.
On Tuesday, the mill workers’ union held a massive protest march to the gates of the State Assembly, demanding delivery of pending homes as early as possible. Nearly 2.5 lakh applications for affordable homes for the former mill workers are pending with the government, they said.
Addressing the Assembly, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “Apart from reserving 50% of the future MMR homes for former mill workers, land belonging to the State Revenue Department will also be diverted for their housing,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
He said the government has already altered the one-third sharing formula with developers and the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), under which more mill land will be set aside for workers’ housing.
The workers, meanwhile, have decided to hold another protest march this month.
Speaking during the debate, former Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar said the issue has been pending for many years. “Slum dwellers are getting homes through the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme, and even outsiders are getting homes. But those (the mill workers) because of whom of Mumbai developed and prospered are running pillar to post for past many years. It’s about time that the government take the matter seriously,” Mr. Pawar said.
He said that while 2.7 lakh applications of the mill workers are pending with MHADA, in the last ten years, only 11,000 mill workers have been allotted a home.
