Govt should pay MHADA for free houses for mill workers, says Minister Ahir……..Dhaval Kulkarni
Minister of State for Housing Sachin Ahir believes the government should reimburse MHADA for the free houses it will build for workers of Mumbai’s defunct textile mills, a proposal due to come up before the Cabinet in a month.
“MHADA is not an authority for free housing. MHADA’s role is limited. The government must pay MHADA (in case the houses are to be given free to mill workers),” said Ahir, adding MHADA has no problem giving away the houses free provided such a decision is taken by the Cabinet.
“MHADA is not an authority for free housing. MHADA’s role is limited. The government must pay MHADA (in case the houses are to be given free to mill workers),” said Ahir, adding MHADA has no problem giving away the houses free provided such a decision is taken by the Cabinet.
“The MHADA will not be able to afford a free housing scheme at this juncture,” said Ahir, who represents Worli and belongs to the Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh (RMMS), the recognised union of mill workers. He also made a pitch for the government to “subsidise” the cost of these houses.
During the recent monsoon session, Minister of State for Urban Development Bhaskar Jadhav, Ahir’s colleague in the NCP, had said the proposal to give workers 225-square-foot houses free would be placed before the Cabinet in a month’s time.
MLAs cutting across party lines had demanded free houses for the workers and Jadhav had said they would examine whether tenements in the transit camps could also be given to the mill workers.
Ahir said a committee under Chief Secretary J.P Dange and with representatives from various labour unions has been set up to decide on the allotment of houses. He added they were seeking land from the mill owners for the houses and also planning to give incentives like extra FSI to private developers building these houses.
The BMC has 58 textile mill plots under its jurisdiction; 25 of the National Textile Corporation (NTC), one of the Maharashtra State Textile Corporation and the rest private. According to the amended development control regulations for the city, the BMC, MHADA and mill owners are to get one- third each of the open space of the textile mills. Of the land taken over by MHADA, 50 per cent is to be used for public housing and the other half for housing mill workers.