)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan today refused to stay the ongoing demolition of illegal constructions in neighbouring Thane, while assuring to make efforts to shift the occupants to MMRDA's rental housing projects on a temporary basis.
"The drive to raze 57 very dangerous buildings is on (in Thane) following an impending risk of collapse. As many as 1,094 buildings there are dangerous," Chavan told the Legislative Assembly.
"Who will take the responsibility if these very dangerous buildings are allowed to remain and there is a tragedy like the Mumbra building collapse," the chief minister retorted when Shiv Sena and NCP legislators from Thane demanded that the demolition drive be abandoned and residents provided with alternate accommodation.
Chavan said efforts would be made to shift occupants of these structures to Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA)'s rental housing projects on a temporary basis.
"As many as 3,700 flats in MMRDA rental housing project are ready and majority of them are in Thane itself. Let the Thane municipal commissioner decide who will get those tenements. Many residents themselves will shift to other houses on rent," he said.
Chavan expressed the need to take up a project to construct large transit camps.
MLAs Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena), Jitendra Awhad (NCP) and others have demanded that the demolition drive be stopped immediately.
"Eleven lakh out of 18 lakh population of Thane lives in slums and illegal buildings. Government can not dislocate such a large population," they said.
Major political parties like Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena are observing a dawn-to-dusk bandh in Thane tomorrow for their demand to provide alternate accommodation to occupants of illegal buildings that are being pulled down.
