Former mill workers, families queue for hours in hope of getting MHADA flats

Mumbai: Former mill workers and their family members were seen waiting in a long queue on Thursday outside the Samaj Mandir Hall, Government Colony, Bandra East, to prove their work history in the city to become eligible for subsidised housing provided by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority. Pravin Ghag, president of the Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti, a mill workers union, said that the verification process used to occur after the lottery. Around 30 people still stood around without tokens, pleading to let them in, however, the guards asked them to start lining up at 7am, following which the tokens for the day would be given out between 8am to 10am. “The world works on hope,” said Manohar Balram Uphare, a resident in a chawl in Byculla whose father had previously worked in Century Mills.