Social activist Medha Patkar called off her indefinite fast on Saturday at 12.30 a.m. after the assurance from the Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan that he would order an inquiry into the illegal activities of builders in the slum redevelopment schemes in Mumbai.
Ms. Patkar, along with another activist Madhuri Shivkar, started their indefinite fast after the State government went ahead with its demolition drive, in spite of a letter from Union Housing Minister Ajay Maken to stop the demolition of slums in Golibar in suburban Mumbai. They are demanding that work on six other slum redevelopment projects should be stopped till the ongoing inquiry is completed.
“Mr. Chavan has agreed to complete the inquiry of redevelopment of Ganesh Krupa society in seven days. At the same time he has positively responded about the implementation of Rajiv Awas Yojana in Mumbai,” said Sumit Wanjale of National Alliance of People’s Movement. Among the assurances given by Mr. Chavan, he said that till the inquiry was over none of the slums from six redevelopment projects would be demolished.
