Maha govt to distribute 6,500 homes to mill workers on May 1

Mumbai, Feb 21 (PTI) Maharashtra Government today saidthat it will distribute 6,500 ready MHADA houses on the milllands to the mill workers on May 1.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan assured a delegation ofmill workers, led by leader Datta Iswalkar, that the readyhouses would be distributed on Maharashtra Day.

The Government had promised to provide housing to millworkers after the mills were shut down.

The houses would cost them Rs 10.5 lakh. However, theworkers are demanding that the price be reduced to Rs 1.26lakh.

"The construction cost of the houses were Rs 1,476. Thetotal cost should be Rs 1.26 lakh," Iswalkar said.

Another issue still to be sorted out between the workersand the state government is the number of workers who will bebeneficiaries.

The workers'' unions wants the beneficiaries to be countedfrom January 1, 1982, taking the number to 40 lakh. But thegovernment is insisting that the dateline of January 1, 2000be taken into consideration, according to which the workerswould be 70,000.