Rental scheme houses to turn transit camps

“We have not decided the ratio but some houses will be used as transit camps in Thane and some will go to mill workers,” CM said Friday on sidelines of a function to inaugurate the Milan Subway rail over-bridge.

As per civic data,there are 1,049 dilapidated buildings in the nine major wards of Thane that have 88,174 occupants. At least 57 of these buildings are extremely dilapidated.

Following the Mumbra building collapse that killed more than 70 people,Thane Municipal Corporation has accelerated efforts to repair or evacuate dilapidated buildings.

Under the rental housing scheme,1,492 tenements are ready at Dosti Vihar Complex in Vartak Nagar and 1,429 at Dosti Imperia Complex in Manpada.

“CM is yet to issue a formal note on the allotment but he has agreed in principle. The first set of houses will be handed over to Thane Municipal Corporation. Mill workers will get a share in under-construction projects,” said UPS Madan,metropolitan commissioner at MMRDA.

MMRDA,which is nodal agency for the rental housing project,has approved more than 50 projects,while about 140 are under scrutiny. About half the approved projects have got commencement certificates and are expected to yield close to 45,000 houses.

The scheme was launched in 2008 to prevent growth of slums in Mumbai metropolitan region by constructing and renting out 160-square-foot houses for Rs 800 to Rs 1,500. MMRDA had set a target of 5 lakh units in five years but has managed to build only about 3,000 so far.

The 3,000-odd houses are lying vacant for nearly a year,awaiting state government guidelines on allotment.