Mill workers should get houses at the earliest: Uddhav

Mumbai, Jul 11: Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray today (Jul 11) said that textile mill workers who lost jobs after the long strikes in the 1980s should get houses at the earliest.

"Shiv Sena and mill workers share a bond for long. When they were passing through a crisis, Shiv Sena took the initiative and led the movement (for their cause)," Uddhav said here, after meeting a delegation of mill workers'' association.

The demand (of housing for workers of closed mills) was raised many times in the Legislative Assembly, but still they did not get justice, he said.

Government gave houses to Bangladeshi nationals and others who enter the city illegally, but not the mill workers, he said.

"It is unfortunate that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati comes to Mumbai and demands permanent houses for the people of her state (working in Mumbai)," he said.

Targetting Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, he said, "His role in the Adarsh housing society scam has been exposed, he gave green signal to the construction of the building, that too stating it as urgent''."

The Sena executive president said that the party has called a meeting of its MPs and MLAs before the Assembly's monsoon session, due to start on July 25. Representatives of the mill workers too have been invited to this meeting.

"We will raise the demands of the mill workers in the Assembly and also in the Lok Sabha," Uddhav said.

PTI