Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Mill workers flat price set at Rs.8.34L CM wants to give ready flats by Mar 15, but upset workers unwilling to pay the government rate

Mill workers flat price set at Rs.8.34L

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CM wants to give ready flats by Mar 15, but upset workers unwilling to pay the government rate
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The price of the 225 sq ft flats that have come up on the mill land and are ready for distribution has become a contentious issue, with officials of the state housing department refusing to hand over the flats at the cost price. While the department has finalised the cost at Rs8.34 lakh, the workers, for whom the houses are meant, say they cannot afford anything beyond Rs3 lakh.
At a meeting of key officials from the housing department and Mhada on Monday, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan reviewed all housings schemes in the city. But, the cost of tenements for the mill workers on the mill land hogged the spotlight ahead of the proposed rally of the workers on March 20. Though the CM, who is also the housing minister, wished to distribute the ready flats before the March 15, the mill workers are in no mood to pay the price being fixed by the state department.

According to officials, the cost of the flats was originally fixed at Rs12.62 lakh, which was reduced to Rs8.34 lakh after reducing the central government subsidy of Rs2.06 lakh and waiver of state government taxes. The Mhada officials told the CM that it had spent Rs600 crore on the houses - nearly 8,000 which are currently ready - and to recover the cost, they cannot be allotted for less than Rs8.34 lakh. Minister of state for housing Sachin Ahir suggested that the flats be distributed at the earliest by finalising a price.
Mill workers’ unions, however, are determined to oppose the government price and have alleged that the Mhada is selling them the flats on built-up price. “The production cost of the flats is Rs1,476 per sq-ft, which comes to Rs3.32 lakh. With the central government subsidy of Rs2.06 lakh, the flats should be available at Rs1.24 lakh, but Mhada wants us to buy them on built-up area basis and hence the cost of construction is calculated for 414 sq-ft as against the carpet area of 225 sq-ft,” said Praveen Ghag, joint secretary, Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti.
Refusing to accept the government price, Ghag said, “With no mill worker being in the position of raise even Rs 2 lakh and with no bank ready to offer them a loan, we are being pushed into bringing out a huge rally against the government on March 20.”

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