The Maharashtra government has decided to regularise illegal constructions on a mass scale in Navi Mumbai’s Digha village. The state cabinet on Thursday accepted a proposal for regularisation of all unauthorised constructions that have come up in the belt till December 2015. The Bombay High Court had earlier rejected a previous bid by the state to extend the sop, while fixing May 31, 2016, as the deadline for demolition of the structures. The affected residents got some reprieve when the Supreme Court restrained authorities from carrying out any demolition till July 31. With just three days left for this deadline to elapse, the Cabinet on Thursday extended another lifeline to the residents. Navi Mumbai’s guardian minister Eknath Shinde, a member of the Shiv Sena, demanded the reprieve, arguing that those occupying the unauthorised structures were not responsible for it. While wary of another rap from the courts over the extension of such a sop, the BJP ministers too agreed to the proposal. BJP’s Navi Mumbai legislator Manda Mhatre has been pushing for the regularisation. The government is expected to formally announce it’s regularisation policy for Digha in the state legislature Friday. It would then seek the consent of the Supreme Court for the move.
