Government has difficulty to provide houses to mill workers

 Providing accommodation to mill workers, the state government is now contemplating to give cash instead of houses to them.

With only 20,000 houses can be constructed on the acquired land, the government is finding it difficult to provide housing to 1.5 lakh mill workers.

After the Shiv-Sena and the MNS joined hands to corner the government on the issue, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday called a meeting to explore other options to solve the problem. Senior ministers said they should not buckle under the Shiv Sena and MNS pressure on mill workers demand for houses which was impractical and instead insist on handing over cash to justify every body.

A senior cabinet minister said.“The only option before the government is to acquire the mill land and sell it so that the money raised will be distributed among the mill workers.”

As per the policy decision taken by the successive governments for the last 15 years, one-third of the mill land was to be reserved for construction of houses for the workers. However, successive CMs amended the rules. At the end, it was decided that a mill worker has every right to demand house on the mill premises.

Resettling them in the distant suburbs would embolden other industries, which have been shut, to make similar demands from the government.

NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal said, “The government is committed to the promise made to the mill workers. But the bigger challenge is how to accommodate all 1.5 lakh workers. Some solution, which would be acceptable to the mill workers union and families, has to be worked out mutually.”

The formula, which is being worked out, is to acquire one-third land from the mill workers and sell it at the commercial rate to private sector.

The funds collected would be divided among the 1.5 lakh mill workers. According to rough estimates, each mill worker would get around Rs6 to Rs8 lakh.