After two-month wait Chavan meets builders

After initially steering clear of builders in his tenure, CM Prithviraj Chavan has now promised to meet them once a month; other groups, however, were refused an audience

After two-month wait Chavan meets builders

After initially steering clear of builders in his tenure, CM Prithviraj Chavan has now promised to meet them once a month; other groups, however, were refused an audience

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Is Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan poised to repeat the mistakes made by his predecessor? After exercising great caution and keeping the Mantralaya premises free of builders during the first six months of his tenure, he has now agreed to meet them more regularly.

CM Prithviraj Chavan talks shop with the builders who are members of the MCHI

Things seemed to have changed in Mantralaya in the first few months of Chavan's tenure. Builders, who had enjoyed free access to the premises during Ashok Chavan's, tenure, were denied entry into the premises at the outset of his tenure but according to the new decision the builders can meet him once a month now on.u00a0

Ice broken
It's common knowledge that Ashok Chavan had to resign from his chair because of his alleged involvement in the Adarsh scam.

Having succeeded the tainted minister, the new man on the seat seemed to be exercising a great deal of caution in the early months, when it appeared that he had systematically cleansed the Mantralaya quarters of the brood of builders who could earlier be seen thronging it.

He first met the builders only two months ago. However, the ice seems to have finally been broken. On Thursday, a delegation of builders from Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI), met the chief minister at Sahyadri.

Chavan then promised them that he would be meeting with them once every month.

An official statement from MCHI also confirmed the same. Manohar Shroff, a member of MCHI said, "Dharmesh Jain, chairman of Nirmal Lifestyles, told the chief minister that he should meet the builders fraternity at least twice a month. Responding to this, the CM said he would meet us once a month."

In course of the meeting, Chavan listened to the various complaints and problems put forward by the builders, assuring them that he would take necessary legal action to address them.

A builder who didn't wish to be identified said, "The CM warned us that the RTI activists are keeping a vigilant eye on any interaction that takes place between him and the builders, and so they shouldn't indulge in any underhand or illegal activities that could land him or them in trouble."

Eknath Khadse, the opposition leader of the Maharashtra Assembly, claimed that he and his party members were closely monitoring every meeting between the chief minister and the builders.

"Meeting builders is not wrong, but the CM should not walk in the footsteps of his predecessor. We will keep an eye on every such meeting. If we smell anything underhand, we will raise the alarm and bring it to the public's notice," said Khadse.

Activists, however, are not very happy with the CM's move. Social activist Medha Patkar claims that the CM should also be meeting the common man who constantly has to fight the builder's tyranny.

"The CM is the representative of the common man. If he keeps meeting members of the builders' and the corporate fraternity, he will soon succumb to their pressure. Hence he shouldn't meet the builders," he said.

Y P Singh, one of the whistle blowers in the Adarsh scam that exposed Ashok Chavan's misdeeds, said, "If the CM meets the builders behind closed doors then it is not a good sign. He should meet them together and not individually. However, builders are important, because we need houses to stay in."

Denied audience
While he acceded to holding regular meetings with the builders, he was not equally willing to meet other groups that have been vying for his attention.
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Members of the Forum for Fairness in Education, who sat on a strike between April 13 and April 19, waited to meet the minister regarding the education regulatory, but were not given an audience.

"We were later forced to meet the education minister, who didn't give us a satisfactory reply. The CM has the time to meet the rich and the powerful.

But he has no time for education. We carried on on this strike for seven days, expecting the CM to revert to us regarding our demands.

But we were told that he doesn't have time to meet us," said Jayant Jain, president of the forum. Members of the mill union, who have also been wanting to meet the CM for the last few months, are also disappointed.

"Our quarters are ready but we haven't received them yet. We have asked the CM to meet us and clarify the reason behind the delay.
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We also wanted him to tell us when we would get our houses. But the CM refuses to give us time. He has time to meet builders, but not the mill mazdoors who made Mumbai what it is today," said Datta Ishwalkar, mill union leader.

Reluctantly met
Slum dwellers of Golibar, who also wanted to meet the CM, were among the lucky few who gained an audience with him, although their representative Medha Patkar claims that she had to beg the CM for a meeting, who finally relented, quite grudgingly.

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