Maharashtra Cabinet nod to seeking transfer of Centre’s salt pan lands for Mumbai housing schemes

Mumbai: In the run up to the Assembly elections the Maharashtra Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday took a record 38 decisions including seeking the transfer of the Centre’s salt pan lands in Mumbai to the state government to accelerate housing schemes for the poor.

The state government has written to the Centre urging it to transfer 255.9 acres of salt pan lands through a lease agreement to Maharashtra to push housing schemes for the poor in Mumbai.

The state housing department will enter into a lease agreement with the Centre for this purpose.

Of the 255.9 acres of salt pan lands, 120.5 acre will be from Kanjur, 76.9 acres from Kanjur and Bhandup and 58.5 acre from Mulund.

The state government will collect the land amount from the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) company and give it to the Centre for acquisition.

The SPV will bear the cost of rehabilitation of the workers on the salt pan lands.

The salt pan lands will be used for rental housing, slum rehabilitation projects, affordable housing and housing for Economically Weaker Sections and the government has fixed the responsibility on the developer of the Dharavi rehabilitation project.

Further, the Cabinet also cleared a discount on payment of land premium by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to expedite the slum rehabilitation scheme of Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar and Kamrajnagar in north east Mumbai.

MMRDA will have to pay a 25 per cent premium for 14 hectares of land at Kurla as per the ready reckoner rates from sale proceeds after completion of the slum rehabilitation project instead of its payment at the beginning.

The Cabinet also gave approval for a subsidy scheme for rearing of indigenous cows citing that Goshalas have very low income and they could not afford to bear the expenses.

The government will provide a per day subsidy of Rs 50 per indigenous cow. This scheme will be implemented online by the Maharashtra Goseva Commission.

Each district will have a District Goshala Verification Committee. According to the 20th animal census in 2019, the number of indigenous cows has been found to be less than 46.13 lakh and it has decreased by 20.69 per cent compared to the 19th census.

The Cabinet also approved a 10 per cent increase in the monthly salary of Rs 15,000 of Kotwals.

It was also decided to implement a compassionate policy for Kotwal cadre employees that will benefit 12,793 Kotwals.

In case of death while in service, or incapacitation due to serious illness, accident, their heirs will be eligible for compassionate appointment as per the policy of the government.

The Cabinet also took a decision to provide a monthly honorarium of Rs 8,000 to Gram Rozgar Sevaks. Those who have worked for more than 2,000 days will be given 1 per cent incentive subsidy of the sanctioned expenditure.

Further, the government will pay a monthly transport allowance and data pack allowance of Rs 1,000 for those Gram Rozgar Sevaks who have worked for 2,000 days and those who have worked for more than 2,000 days will be entitled to Rs 2,000 per month.

Moreover, the Cabinet also cleared the development of the Multipurpose Port Project at Murbe in Palghar District by JSW Infrastructure Developers.

A detailed project report will be prepared on technical issues and also on rehabilitation of fishermen by roping in expert organisations such as the Central Water and Power Research Centre and Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute.

The proposed port will be all season and it will mainly handle captive and dry bulk cargo. The project entails an investment of Rs 4,259 crore and it will create 1,500 jobs.