Assembly assurance comes in the wake of Naik's proposal to regularise slums upto year 2000

DNA Correspondent. Vashi

Thane Maharashtra government will soon take a policy decision on regularizing illegal structures in Thane district, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan Said in a reply to a question raised by Airoli MLA Sandeep Naik during the winter Sesion currently underway at Nagpur.

The Government indicated that the decision will be all encompassing and will be taken considering all the factors. The Chief Minister said, all those who have been served demolition notices should submit prood of residence to the concerned government authorities. Naik wanted to know what will be the status of structures that were constructed after January 1, 2000, the cut-off date determined by the government in its affidavit filed before the High Court on the issue of regularizing slums.

Acting on Bombay High Court directions, the municipal corporations and other authorized government bodies have started issuing notices to the occupants on government lands.

Sandeep naik points out "People living on such lands are living under the fear of demolition. Therefore the government should consider their case on compassionate grounds and regularize the structures on the lines of Ulhasnagar."

The Airoli MLA further said, "The government should see to it that no new illegal structures come up in future."

Earlier, Thane Guardian Minister Ganesh Naik had called on the Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and urged the government to approach Bombay High Court and moot a fresh plan to regularize all the illegal constructions that have come up till 2010.

Thane district is the most urbanized one in Maharashtrea after Mumbai. It has a total of seven minicipal corporations and five municipal councils. Before Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) was formed, the district was looked after by zilla parishad while the gram panchayat acted as the planning body. Since they didn't had enough resources to ensure systematic planning of the district, people took advantage of the same and as a result unauthorized constructions came into being.

The Bombay HC had ordered District Collector, CIDCO, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), MIDC and other government agencies to take action against illegal constructions that have come up in the region.