CM seeks roadmap to slum-free Thane

Under the Rajiv Awas Yojana,the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA) subsidises the cost of homes built for the economically weaker sections through the state housing boards.

“An estimated 65,000 slum structures in Thane are encroaching upon government land owned by the Collector or MIDC or the Forest department,” an official said.

These,and also structures occupying land reserved for gardens,recreation grounds or other public amenities,will have to be relocated elsewhere,for which a policy will be formulated. Officials of the Forest department and the MIDC have also been asked to check how much land belonging to these departments is encroached by slums.

The state government had,in July last year,in an affidavit to the Bombay High Court promised that all illegal constructions in Thane would be demolished by mid-2011.

The High Court had,on a petition filed by Harit Vasai Sanrakshan Samiti,asked the government for a time-bound plan for removal of unauthorised constructions in the satellite city.