Residents of Mahul staged a protest at Azad Maidan on Thursday, and sought support from the State government for shifting their residences to a safer area. Later, Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad met protesters and assured them of taking up the matter with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
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Around 200 residents raised slogans against the Brihanamumbai Municipal Corporation for going against the residents to the Supreme Court after losing in the Bombay High Court. Thousands were shifted to Mahul under a Slum Rehabilitation Authority scheme, but the residents are reportedly facing several health problems as the area is surrounded by three refineries and 16 chemical factories.
Nandu Shinde, a protester, said the Bombay High Court had given the BMC 12 weeks to shift the residents to another place or compensate them with the deposit amount and provide residents with the rent each month till new houses were built for them. “In the last two years, around 300 people have died as people are suffering from deadly skin diseases, cancer, tuberculosis, and many more. The High Court had ordered the BMC to compensate the residents till December 16 last year. Still no steps have been taken by the BMC to help us. Instead of providing a safer place, it went to the SC for the second time against us,” he said.
Mr. Shinde hoped that they would find support from the new Maha Vikas Aghadi government. “Before coming to power, Cabinet Minister Aaditya Thackeray had raised his voice for Mahul and supported us. We hope since he and his party are in power, they will soon help us in getting out of Mahul.”
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Mr. Awhad also told the protesters that he would fix a meeting with the CM on January 14 so that residents could discuss their problems with Mr. Thackeray.
The SC will hear the BMC petition on January 13.