Skip to main content

Maharashtra housing minister gives oral assurance to shift rehabilitated residents from "toxic hell" Mahul

By A Representative
Maharashtra housing minister Prakash Mehta has agreed to shift the the protesting Mahul residents temporarily to Kurla HDIL, a site that was proposed by members of the Mahul Prakalpgrast Sangharsh Samiti and Ghar bachao Ghar Banao Andolan (GBGBA). Mehta assured the people that the proposal to shift people to Kurla HDIL will be discussed with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, and a final decision would be taken within four days.
The minister gave these assurances at a meeting with representatives of Mahul residents, led by well known social activist Medha Patkar, following their 16 days' protest. All of them Tansa pipeline displaced persons, they were "rehabilitated" last year in Mumbai’s highly polluted Mahul region, being considered the city's "toxic hell".
However, GBGBA, in a statement, regrets, the minister has only given an oral assurance and there is nothing in writing, adding, resistance would continue till the government provides concrete decision, on paper, in coming days.
Those who were present at the meeting with the minister included Bhushan Gagrani (principal secretary, urban development), Sanjay Kumar (additional chief secretary, housing) and officials from Slum rehabilitation Authority (SRA), Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).

Comments

TRENDING

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

If Maoist violence is illegitimate, how is Hindutva, state violence justified? Can right-wing wash off its sins?

By Swami Agnivesh* and Sandeep Pandey** There was major police action against Sudha Bhardwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Varvara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira on 28 August, 2018. Before this police arrested Professor Shoma Sen, Adocate Sudhir Gadling, Sudhir Dhawle, Mahesh Raut and Rona Wilson on 6 June. Even before this Dr. Binayak Sen, Soni Sori, Ajay TG, Professor GN Saibaba and Prashant Rahi have been arrested and all these activists have been accused of having links with Maoists.

Caste 'continues to influence' hiring, wages, migration patterns in India

By Rajiv Shah  A recent academic study has highlighted how caste and social identity continue to shape employment opportunities, wages and access to secure livelihoods in India, even as the country projects itself as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The findings, published in the 2026 Springer volume Unequal Opportunities: An Analysis of Inequalities in Employment Opportunities Among Different Social Groups in Labor Markets of India , argue that structural discrimination remains embedded in both formal and informal labour markets.