Mumbai: Homes for 2,250 police personnel in redeveloped BDD chawls at Rs 50 lakh; agitated personnel threaten to hit streets in protest

Police personnel are furious as they seek CM’s intervention for giving homes at affordable price & warn to hit the streets to fight for their right

Shiv Sena is opposed to Rs 50 lakh price and has convened a meeting on Thursday

Awhad says Rs 50 lakh is low compared to the total construction cost of Rs 1.05 to Rs 1.15 crore

Mumbai: Nearly 2,250 police personnel currently residing in BDD chawls will have to shell out Rs 50 lakh each for new home being developed by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) against the state government’s promise of ‘’affordable’’ price. The police personnel have expressed anger and claimed that it would be out of their reach to pay Rs 50 lakh during the present financial conditions. The Police Parivar, a representative body of these police personnel, has warned that if the state government does not provide affordable housing to the police, who are always on the road to protect Mumbaikars, will take to the streets.

They were furious over the housing minister Jitendra Awhad’s announcement. Awhad said, ‘’The construction cost of each house of BDD chawl is approximately Rs 1.05 crore to Rs 1.15 crore. But MHADA has decided to provide homes to 2250 police personnel at a cost of Rs 50 lakh each. This decision will be mentioned in the contract which will be issued immediately. All work has started. So now the police are requested to vacate their houses as soon as possible.’’

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who reviewed the redevelopment of BDD chawls at Naigaon, NM Joshi Marg and Worli, said the police will be provided homes at the construction rate after the redevelopment of BDD chawls. He directed the housing department to take necessary actions in this regard. Thackeray urged the residents of BDD chawls to cooperate with the state government to expeditiously complete the redevelopment.

Interestingly, Shiv Sena, which heads the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, has opposed a move to provide homes at Rs 50 lakh to police personnel after the BDD redevelopment. The party expects that it will go against it during the upcoming BMC elections and therefore has convened an urgent meeting on Thursday. This is important as Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray was elected from Worli and he and Shiv Sena enjoy support from the Marathi Manoos from these areas.

The Police Parivar in a statement said, ‘’We don't want free houses. The state government should have announced the price of an affordable house at the time of launch of BDD chawl redevelopment. However, after the minister’s announcement it is now clear that our fight is not yet over,’’ it added.

Further, the Police Parivar has urged the Chief Minister to intervene and take an early decision on providing affordable homes to the police personnel from BDD chawls after the redevelopment.