Manish Gajbhiye
Lokmat News Network
Aurangabad, May 18:
Around 20 acres of land in Labour Colony has been cleared by demolishing 338 quarters. The administration has decided to rehabilitate the homeless residents by providing homes through the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). As per the directives of the divisional commissioner Sunil Kendrekar a rehabilitation cell for the residents of Labour Colony to provide applications of PMAY has been started at the District Collectorate from May 13.
Around,55 application forms have been distributed to the residents so far. Until Wednesday, as many as four completed applications have been received at the cell. People are being guided about the documents required for the PMAY. After collecting the applications, they will be handed over to Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), where the applications will be scrutinized, informed tehsildar Rupesh Shingare.
In all, 338 quarters at Labour Colony have been demolished. The AMC is working on clearing the debris from the demolition site. It is deposited for the embankment of Kham River. It will take a few more days to clear debris.
The religious places at Labour Colony have not been demolished. As per the rules, the religious places established before 1961 cannot be demolished. A meeting will be taken soon to find the dates of the religious places, informed deputy collector Prabhodya Mulay.
Residents should be rehabilitated immediately
Meanwhile, a resident Amit Tandale said, the residents were living in Labour Colony for 55 years and they have become homeless. The state government should consider it as a special case and rehabilitate the residents as early as possible.
Legal adviser of Labour Colony Sangharsh Kruti Samiti, Adv Anandi Verma said, around 5,000 residents living in 338 quarters were made homeless without making any prior provision for their rehabilitation. Now, they have asked to submit applications for houses in PMAY, but his scheme is for all residents. The question is what administration has done for the victims of Labour Colony.
Administrative Complex on 20 acres of land
Barring Divisional Commissionerate, District Collectorate, and land record office, around 50 government offices are situated in rented places. A project administrative complex on the ground of Mantrayala was proposed in the city. The search for appropriate land, draft, and required funds were being planned since 2016. Now, the administration has around 20 acres of land after the demolition of the quarters. The administrative complex has been planned here. It will have an equipped meeting hall, rest house, administrative offices, etc in this integrated complex. It is likely that the foundation stone of the project will be laid by the chief minister in June, the sources said.