State allots 3,894 Mhada houses to former mill workers at half the price

The Maharashtra government on Sunday announced its decision to cut down the prices on the subsidised houses being allotted to mill workers by almost half by pricing

The Maharashtra government on Sunday announced its decision to cut down the prices on the subsidised houses being allotted to mill workers by almost half by pricing each unit at ₹9.5 lakh instead of the previously proposed ₹18 lakh.

HT Image

The new rates are applicable for the 3,894 houses built by Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) which were allotted to the mill workers through a computerised lottery system on Sunday. These 225-square feet houses are located in the Bombay Dyeing Spring Mills at Wadala and Srinivas Mills at Lower Parel.

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, who took the decision to cut down the prices, urged the mill workers not to sell the subsidised houses. Thackeray, who was the main guest at the event, said he would not rest till the last mill worker gets a house.

“The Shiv Sena and mill workers share an unbreakable bond. Four years ago, these houses were being charged at ₹9.5 lakh and now we have decided to keep the rates unchanged,” he said. The chief minister also asked them to promise that they will not sell the subsidised houses. “These are not just your houses but the identity of Mumbai. Do not sell these houses and move out of Mumbai. I have reduced the prices so that you could get these houses [at a reasonable rate],” said Thackeray.

Mills workers’ associations have welcomed the move. “There was no way mill workers could have afforded houses with such high rates of ₹18 lakh. The state government took a wise decision to keep the prices constant,” said Datta Ishwalkar, president, Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti.

These houses are the part of the scheme where any mill owner developing the land had to give one third to Mhada for building affordable houses.