State govt set to regularise 100,000 hutments

The Congress-NCP government in the state is set to fulfil a major promise it had made before the 2004 Assembly polls — regularising more than 100,000 illegal hutments that came up between 1995 and 2000.

The decision was taken yesterday at a Congress-NCP meeting that was attended by MLAs, MPs, corporators in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, said Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) chief Kripa Shankar Singh.

The alliance had made this promise before the 2004 elections. However, the state government restrained itself from taking any decision as it had wide ramifications. Besides, a public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Bombay High Court on this issue.

But as the Lok Sabha polls approached, the Shiv Sena and the BJP started targeting the government on the issue. Singh today said Chavan and Bhujbal assured that an ordinance to regularise the slums would be passed within seven days.

Replying to a question, Singh said although a PIL had been filed, the court had not prohibited the state government from bringing an ordinance or amending the law giving protection to slums up to 1995.

Though Labour Minister and MLA from Mumbai, Nawab Malik, confirmed that Chavan and Bhujbal gave such an assurance, the chief minister’s office and officials of the housing and urban development ministry refused to confirm or deny this.