State struggles to trace kin of slain mill workers for free housing plan

He said the state had given numerous newspaper advertisements asking the families to come forward,held extensive discussions with the mill worker unions and notified district collectors to see if the families were living in their jurisdiction.

“We have asked the textile and the general administration departments to check their records. There were some names from other states such as Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. We are now requesting the Maharashtra chief secretary to reach out to his counterparts in these states,seeking their help in tracing the families,” Ahir said.

The mill plots were leased out over 100 years ago for a paltry sum. As the mills were declared sick following the textile workers strike,the government sold the land to make way for luxury apartments,commercial complexes and malls. The state had decided to allot houses to mill workers on the housing board’s share of this land at a highly subsidised rate through a lottery,while the kin of those killed in the Samyukta Maharashtra movement were to get free houses.

Ahir said that houses would be kept aside till the government found the families. So far,the state has given away one of the 23 houses to 70-year-old Rukmani Shinde,widow of mill worker Krishna Shinde.

Rukmani was living with her brother in a 10 ft x12 ft room in a chawl at Gavdevi,Thane. She lost her husband within a year of marriage. On getting a call from Mantralaya about the house,she submitted the requisite documents,including her husband’s provident fund details,which the government verified.

In January,CM Prithviraj Chavan handed her the keys to the 19th-floor apartment at the Mumbai mills complex in Mazgaon.

“After Rukmani,at least six or seven others approached us,but they could not even tell us basic details,like which mill their fathers had worked for,” R G Salvi,deputy secretary at the state housing department.

“One person brought a photocopy of a leave application his father had gotten approved from the mill he worked for. We have sent it to the labour and textile departments for verification,” he added.