Mumbai: Parle Pancham pushes for Marathi housing quota

Parle Pancham organisation has decided to write letters to all 36 MLAs in Mumbai. Representation pic

City-based Parle Pancham organisation has decided to write letters to all 36 MLAs to advocate for reservation of housing stock for the Marathi community in Mumbai.

President of Parle Pancham, Shridhar Khanolkar, said, "We are actively pursuing the issue of housing for the Marathi community. In the past, there have been instances where housing was denied to Marathi people on the grounds of them being non-vegetarian. We had already written a letter to the state government in November 2023. Now, we have decided to write letters to all MLAs and urge them to raise this issue in the upcoming state monsoon Assembly session."

"In the letter, we will demand that 50 per cent of the flats in new buildings be reserved for Marathi people for one year after the booking starts. After one year, if they remain unsold, they should be available for sale to anyone. This way, financially capable Marathi individuals will have the opportunity to purchase a flat," Khanolkar added.

"Often, to avoid selling houses to Marathi people, builders artificially inflate the cost of homes. Therefore, we propose that 20 per cent of flats in every new building be made smaller in size. These smaller flats should be reserved exclusively for Marathi individuals for up to one year," Khanolkar further suggested.

"We are sending letters to all 36 MLAs of Mumbai, urging them to champion the cause of housing reservation for the Marathi community. This initiative aims to increase the Marathi population in Mumbai and enable Marathi people who have migrated to neighbouring cities due to the unavailability of affordable housing in Mumbai to resettle here," Khanolkar concluded.