A lottery was first held in 2012 to provide houses to mill workers in Mumbai. However, it was later found that the list of deserving mill workers was flawed, as it had repetition of names and names of unqualified workers who had left their jobs before 1982. So, naturally, there was a lot of clamor and protest against this lottery, including a public interest litigation filed against it at the Bombay High Court. On June 28, 2016, the High Court ordered the formation of a committee headed by a retired judge to resolve the issue. The Fadnavis government, which had come to power replacing the Congress-NCP government under whom the scandalous lottery took place, followed the court order and did everything needed to clear the issues in this matter, which saw 5052 houses distributed to deserving mill workers. Even after 2019, when he was not in power, Devendraji continued to follow up with the 2nd phase of the mill workers housing projects. In 2022, there was a change of power in the state again, with Devendraji returning as the Deputy Chief Minister; the mill worker housing project again got wind in its sails.
As per the order given by the High Court in 2016, the then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis personally tried to find solutions to the various issues of the mill workers. As a result of these efforts, Fadnavis was able to find fair solutions to the issues related to housing for mill workers in Mumbai in the first phase of the Legislative Assembly on 12 April 2016. As promised to the mill workers, Fadnavis made 5052 houses available for the mill workers in Mumbai and the MMRDA divisions. He had presented a statement in this regard in the Legislative Assembly on 12 April 2016.
Devendra Fadnavis, in a statement presented in the Legislative Assembly, clarified that 2634 houses were being constructed on the sites of 6 closed mills in Mumbai; their possession would soon be given to the mill workers. Each house would be 225 sq. ft. and cost Rs. 9.50 lakh to the recipient. In addition, a price of Rs 6 lakh was fixed for 2418 houses (320 sq. ft. each) to be built in MMRDA areas. The houses built on the mill sites in Mumbai were as follows: 1430 on Century Mill sites, 562 on Prakash Cotton Mill sites, 188 on Bharat Mill sites, 47 on Ruby Mill sites, 157 on Jubilee Mill sites, and 250 on the Western India Mill sites, making a total of 2634 houses. At the same time, it was decided to provide a total of 2418 houses to the mill workers in MMRDA areas. These houses would be 320 square feet each, with prices fixed at Rs 6 lakh. Thus, it was decided to distribute a total of 5052 houses to the mill workers, 2634 in Mumbai and 2418 outside Mumbai, solving the long-pending housing issues of the Mumbai mill workers.
The Fadnavis government had assured that no mill worker would be deprived of houses and that those who did not get houses in the first draw would receive the same in phases from the government. To fulfill this promise, Devendra Fadnavis had decided to keep maximum space for the construction of low-cost houses in the development plan of Mumbai. Some of these houses were kept for the mill workers who did not get houses in the first draw. Similarly, it was planned to build about 11 lakh houses in the MMRDA area.
A house for every mill worker!
Around 2.5 lakh mill workers used to work in different mills in Mumbai. Fadnavis had promised to provide houses to the mill workers who suffered due to the shutdown of mills and couldn’t afford a house of their own. And he kept his promise, providing houses to mill workers in places like Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, and Navi Mumbai. The MHADA conducted a campaign to verify the genuineness and eligibility of 1.5 Lakh mill workers and their heirs who did not win the lottery in the previous draw. Under this campaign, documents were checked both online and offline, and houses were distributed to the mill workers and their heirs who were found eligible. Thus, the promise made by Devendra Fadnavis as CM was fulfilled.
Houses were distributed to the workers of Bombay Dyeing and Srinivas Mills
251 workers of Bombay Dyeing and Srinivas Mills were distributed keys to new houses by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. On 7 July 2023, the keys were distributed to the beneficiaries of the second phase at Sahyadri Guest House. So far, 10,247 of 13,760 mill workers have received MHADA houses.
Meanwhile, a committee was formed under the leadership of MLA Sunil Rane and MLA Kalidas Kolambkar to resolve the issue of houses for mill workers. This committee aims to verify the eligibility of 4,000 mill workers in the coming days. MHADA has identified 43,000 hectares of land in 5 different places in Thane district for building homes for millworkers. The government has set the goal of allocating houses to the eligible mill workers.
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