I am going directly from here to the new house, say Mahul residents

Narendra Singh (grey shirt) was delighted to receive the keys to his flat from Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray

It was an emotional moment for 10 families from Mahul on Friday, when they received keys to their new homes from environment minister Aaditya Thackeray. The civic body has allocated 206 flats to the residents of Mahul so far, and those remaining are looking forward to collecting their allotment letters and keys from civic officials on Saturday.

The 10 families went to Thackeray's residence, Matoshree at Bandra East, to take their allotment letters, and the relief was visible on their faces. Anita Dhole, one of the residents, has been protesting since October 2018 and on Friday, she was ecstatic to get the keys, "This is a very happy day for us and I am going directly from here to the new house. I hope that the government will continue its efforts to help all of us who are staying in polluted conditions at Mahul and until then, our struggle will continue," she said.

The flats allocated to the Mahul residents were handed over by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) earlier this month on condition that these will be given on 11-month rent agreements and not for longer than three years. When asked about the condition, Thackeray said, "We are working to resolve the environmental issues at Mahul so that people can continue to live there. They will stay at Gorai for free. These people are being moved to Gorai on a temporary basis until the issues are resolved at Mahul and until then they will be taken care of at the MHADA flats."

He added that the government will figure out the green buffer zone between the oil refineries and the PAP settlements this year. He also stated that the oil refinery companies have been asked to follow all the regulations prescribed by the National Green Tribunal like Nitrogen Blanketing etc by June this year failing which closure notices will be served to them.

206
No. of Mahul residents who will get homes in Gorai

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