Mumbai, Feb 21 (PTI) The ruling Shiv Sena on Friday alleged "housing jihad" by some "Muslim" realty developers involved in slum rehabilitation projects in Mumbai, saying they were adding names of people from their community in the list of beneficiaries and changing the city's demography.
Such activities are being carried out in western suburbs and other parts of Mumbai like Govandi, Mankhurd, Kurla, Saki Naka and Bandra, alleged Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Nirupam at a news conference.
"There are 600 ongoing SRA projects of which 10 per cent are Muslim builders and all are involved in such work. The plan is to change the demography of the city in a big way. This is housing jihad," the former MP added.
Nirupam sought a thorough probe in these fraudulent activities and said he has written to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who heads the housing department and is also the president of the Shiv Sena.
The Shiv Sena spokesperson pointed out two housing projects in Oshiwara where, he alleged, a "Hindu majority society was converted into a Muslim majority society".
Nirupam claimed that in one of the housing societies, the Muslim developer handling the project fudged records and 19 structures were passed in the name of one person.
Under Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) rules, an eligible family is entitled for only one home. However, in this housing society a family was allotted 30 houses, the former MP maintained.
According to 2021 records, there were 45 hutments which were eligible for rehabilitation in a locality in Oshiwara, but their number grew to 82 in 2022 and then to 95, Nirupam alleged.
Even electricity bills are fudged to include ineligible beneficiaries, he claimed.
He further alleged that one of the tenants in an SRA project is a Bangladeshi who is residing illegally in India.
SRA is a state-run agency tasked with implementing slum rehabilitation projects in Mumbai. Its main objective is to transform slum-dwellers’ lives and provide them with affordable housing.