In a major relief to 2,250 police personnel from the BDD chawls, the housing minister Jitendra Awhad on Monday announced that the price of homes after the redevelopment has been reduced to Rs 25 lakh from Rs 50 lakh. This was done after strong opposition by the tenants who had sought the intervention of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and pleaded for revision in the price.
‘’On the advice of Hon'ble Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and my leader Sharad Pawar, the tenements in BDD Chawls have been made on their names permanently. Now the houses will be given for Rs 25 lakh instead of Rs 50 lakh. Now vacate the house and let the project go ahead,’’ said Awhad in his tweet.
On the other hand, tourism minister and Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray, who was elected from Worli assembly seat, received a rousing welcome from the BDD chawl tenants today. ‘’The problem of the BDD scam was solved after 25 years. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has announced that the construction cost of houses of police personnel from BDD chawls from Worli, Naigaon and NM Joshi Marg has been reduced from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. Last year, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Hon'ble Sharad Pawar, Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad, Sunil Shinde, Sachin Bhau, Ashish Chemburkar and myself, all of us together had solved the long pending issue here,’’ he noted.
Awhad had announced that these homes will be priced at Rs 50 lakh on May 18 but it was strongly protested by the Police Parivar, a representative body of these police personnel, which had 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.
However, Awhad had justified the Rs 50 lakh price saying, ‘’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.
The police personnel were adamant in the reduction in price and pursued the matter with the CM, Awhad and Aaditya.
Besides, the Housing Department on Monday declared an integrated township of 63 hectares on government land in Adivali village in Panvel taluka, Raigad district. It will be treated as a vital project and it will be the biggest township of MHADA in Maharashtra, said housing minister Jitendra Awhad.
