MUMBAI: The decades-long struggle of Mumbai’s mill workers to get homes may soon conclude, with the Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti (GKSS), which represents around 20,000 workers, deciding to accept homes in a proposed project at Shelu in Karjat. However, they have placed a condition that the price must be reduced further.
The groundbreaking ceremony of the Shelu project took place on May 1 this year, and the work order was issued to Karmayogi AVP Realty on May 4. Named Girangaon Township, 31,005 units are proposed to be constructed.
“We have pledged to establish a ‘New Girangaon’ in Shelu while continuing our struggle for our remaining housing rights,” said Pravin Anant Ghag, president of the GKSS.
The decision was taken during a day-long gathering of mill workers in Vasai. Those who assembled discussed the government’s housing policy for mill workers, expressing concern over decades of uncertainty surrounding their rehabilitation. Those gathered criticised the government for repeatedly making assurances about providing houses in Mumbai but failing to translate them into reality. They pointed out that although the government had issued three Government Resolutions and invited tenders for housing projects, there was no clear commitment to providing homes within Mumbai. For decades, eligible textile mill workers and their families have demanded affordable housing on redeveloped mill lands or within Greater Mumbai limits, arguing that they helped build Mumbai from the time cotton was the engine of the economy. This will allow developers to construct more area on the same parcel of land, potentially improving the financial viability of their projects. However, Ghag pointed out that permitting higher FSI would increase construction cost and other levies, which would make the homes costlier.
The initial decision to provide homes to Mumbai’s mill workers was taken in 1991 by the Congress government in Maharashtra led by chief minister Sudhakarrao Naik. “We also have the consent of approximately 3,500 families. The union, however, has put down a condition—that the government reduce the price of the 318-sq-ft flats. “We have requested that this be brought down to ₹ 6 lakh, the price that was charged back in 2016 when 1,086 homes were allotted at Panvel. Under the revised norms, the permissible FSI for mill worker housing in residential zones has been increased from 2.5 to 3 and construction has been allowed in green and No-Development Zones with an FSI of 1.
However, the Maharashtra government has always pushed housing schemes for them to distant outer suburbs like Shelu and Vangani ostensibly due to a lack of vacant land inside Mumbai.
“With the issue becoming increasingly complicated, the workers decided to accept the available housing option in Shelu rather than wait indefinitely,” said Ghag. “The government has priced each unit at ₹ 15 lakh and after a subsidy of ₹ 5.5 lakh, every family is supposed to pay ₹ 9.5 lakh,” said Ghag.
To facilitate construction of housing stock within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, last month, the state government issued a GR, amending earlier provisions and easing development norms.
