Mumbai sanitation workers get ownership homes as 140 flats handed over at Colaba's Panchsheel Nagar

The state government has decided that sanitation workers who keep Mumbai clean day and night will no longer get only service quarters but will also be given homes they own, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

A 140-flat project at Panchsheel Nagar in Colaba was inaugurated and keys were handed over to the beneficiaries. Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar were also present.

Fadnavis said sanitation workers look after the health of Mumbai's residents without caring for their own, and it is the government's responsibility to give them a good, spacious home. He said the decision to give all sanitation workers in Maharashtra ownership homes along with service quarters has been taken and implementation has begun.

The homes are being given under the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Shramsaphalya and Valmiki Gruhanirman housing schemes. There is also a plan to provide service quarters by 2028.

A total of 140 flats have been built in two buildings at Panchsheel Nagar. Notably, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has for the first time put up the buildings using pre-fabricated technology. The buildings have essential facilities, including lifts.

Shinde said an initiative to provide good-quality homes to the Municipal Corporation's 29,000 sanitation workers has begun. Workers earlier received a 150 sq ft home; they are now being given a 300 sq ft home.

Under the Ashray scheme, 30 settlements will be redeveloped through 35 projects in three phases. This will create 11,371 homes of 300 sq ft and 773 homes of 600 sq ft, a total of 12,144 homes.

Shinde also directed the civic body to prepare a separate scheme so that the children of sanitation workers can pursue higher education and become doctors, engineers and lawyers.