The Maharashtra government is set to challenge in the Supreme Court the Bombay high court order on the demolition of illegal buildings in Digha.
The Maharashtra government is set to challenge in the Supreme Court the Bombay high court order on the demolition of illegal buildings in Digha. Eknath Shinde, guardian minister of Thane, on Saturday announced that the state government is in support of the Digha residents and that the same was discussed with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis after which it had been decided that the state government would file a petition in the Supreme Court on Monday in support of residents.
Of late, around 96 buildings in Digha were in the news, as thousands of families are on the verge of being homeless after the Bombay high court had ordered the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and the City Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) to demolish illegal buildings in Digha.
After the orders from the court, a few buildings were demolished in the past amid protests from the other buildings in Digha.
The state government had come out with a policy in December 2015, which did not help much as it could not be implemented due to the matter being in the court.
Last week, the receiver appointed by the Bombay high court had asked residents of a few buildings in Digha to vacate their homes, which would be demolished. This led to widespread panic in the area with residents coming out on streets on Saturday evening demanding the state government to help them with regularising their structures.
Abhang Shinde, a member of Digha Ghar Bachao Samiti, said, “The Maharashtra government had been assuring us from the past few months that it was coming out with a policy to regularise the buildings but nothing has happened and once again the court has ordered residents to vacate them right before monsoons, leaving us homeless. We had paid for permissions for the construction at the time but now we are being portrayed as illegal residents.”
He further said that residents of Campa Cola society in Worli were regularised as they belonged to the elite class.
“Because we are from the middle class, we are being made to vacate our homes even when it is not our fault,” he added.
The court has ordered that further demolition be carried out on Wednesday; however, state government plans to go to the Supreme Court on Monday and bring a stay on the order.
Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party MLC Vidya Chavan said, “The state government should immediately take steps to issue an ordinance stating that the government is regularising the said buildings in Digha, which will bring relief for residents who have been staying here since pre-Independence but are now being portrayed as illegal residents.”
