The Maharashtra government has once again changed its cut-off date for regularizing slums, extending it to five more years that is January 1 2000 and post-2000 slums shall be not regularized. In a significant announcement, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deskmukh stated that the cut-off time for regularizing slums has been extended to January 1 2000. Initially it was January 1, 1985. This was then changed to 1990, 1995 and now 2000. It was in the year 2004, that the Chief Minister undertook a massive drive against illegal slums. Some 92,000 illegal shanties were razed within two weeks then but the fear of a political backlash forced him to slow down his drive and later change the deadline to 2000. He further added that the government is considering setting up a separate police department to be headed in BMC to deal with anti-encroachment drive in the city. While the Chief Minister was trying to justify his decision, the opposition is demanding special funds for the city’s development every year. Bureau report NMTV.
