Mumbai: Maharashtra Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Abu Asim Azmi said in the House that hate crimes have increased due to the government’s hate speech and provocative speeches. Action is necessary. The Supreme Court had also ordered action on hate speech in its guiding principles and directed the governments to take suo motu notice and register cases, but the government’s intention is not clear on this and due to this malice, no action is taken in hate speech cases. Therefore, action is needed. The government should take strict action in this matter. The hate agenda is going on in Maharashtra and the situation is deteriorating. Abu Asim Azmi said that the law and order situation in Maharashtra is bad, along with this, there has been a huge increase in minor crimes, in which the elderly are being targeted. Along with this, the conviction rate in criminal cases is low, that is, in most cases, guilt is not proven, which is very worrying. In such a situation, questions also arise about the investigation.

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party leader and MLA Rohit Pawar has made a sensational statement after Ajit Pawar’s plane crash, making it clear that black magic was performed outside Ajit Pawar’s house. The reason for this black magic is not to control the party, because on February 16, a letter was sent to the Election Commission of India in which Praful Patel was appointed as the national president. It was signed by three officials, including Sunil Tatkare and Brijmohan Srivastava. He said that his aunt Sintra Pawar was also unaware of this. This is a very worrying matter. He said that a conspiracy to completely take over the party had already been hatched, so it is necessary to investigate whether Ajit Pawar’s death was an accident or murder. He said that Ashok Kharat used to perform black magic outside Ajit Pawar’s house. After this sensational statement, political turmoil has intensified once again. Addressing the press conference, Rohit Pawar made several sensational statements in which he referred to the letter of Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare to the Election Commission to maintain dominance over the party, which he had submitted to the Election Commission 16 days after the accident. Rohit Pawar has also demanded an investigation in this matter. Rohit Pawar had earlier given the details of the FIR filed by Karnataka in the Ajit Pawar accident in the Assembly and said that the Karnataka Police has registered an FIR in this matter, while Ajit Pawar used to serve the people day and night in Pune. Will this FIR now be registered in Baramati and investigated? He said that the FIR in this matter has been transferred to Maharashtra and its investigation is now entrusted to the DGP. Will the DGP take this investigation forward?

Congress leader and MLA in the Mumbai Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Amin Patel has demanded immediate completion of the Kamatipura Redevelopment Cluster Development through a notice seeking attention and issuance of work orders. He said that there are 16,000 buildings in Kamatipura, in which 25,000 residents live. The condition of these buildings is dilapidated and there is a risk of accidents during the monsoon. If an accident occurs in these buildings, the government and the MHA and the concerned agency will be responsible for it, so work needs to be started immediately. He said that Kamatipura area consists of a dense, multilingual, middle-class population living in several old and dilapidated buildings. There is a strong demand from the local residents for the immediate rehabilitation of these structures. The redevelopment and rehabilitation proposal has been submitted to the government through the Kamatipura Development Committee, and steps like appointment of a building contractor and issuing of tenders have been initiated. However, there is an urgent need to speed up the redevelopment process. A large number of buildings under the Prime Minister Grant Project (PMGP) are located in areas like Umar Khadi and Kamatipura. Due to incidents like roof collapse, water leakage and structural damage, residents are forced to live in dangerous conditions. Several meetings have been held at the government level to speed up the redevelopment, but no concrete steps have been taken yet. Areas like Dongri, Bhindi Bazaar, Paidhoni, Bholeshwar, Nal Bazaar, Kalba Devi, and Mohammad Ali Road are densely populated and have many old and unsafe buildings. There is an urgent need for MAHADA to conduct surveys, inspect illegal constructions and start redevelopment projects. However, due to shortage of staff in MAHADA, the process is getting delayed, leading to increasing dissatisfaction among the residents.

Deputy Chief Minister Housing Statement

Government Resolution dated 12th January 2023 under Development Control Regulation (DCR) 33(9) has been approved for cluster redevelopment of old and dilapidated cessed and non-cessed buildings in Kamatipura area by MAHADA. Under this project, around 734 buildings and 8,001 tenants/residents will be rehabilitated. In order to expedite the project, MAHADA was declared a Special Planning Authority through a government notification dated 9th July 2025.

Tenders were floated on 12th June 2025, and after due process, the contracts were awarded to Bhagirathi Housing Private Limited. Ltd. and Kamati Developers Private Limited. Further action is underway to issue work orders on 14 November 2025.

During 1989-1995, about 269 cessed buildings were reconstructed under the Prime Minister Grant Project (PMGP), resulting in the construction of 66 new buildings. For the renovation, the government approved Rs. 150 crore from the Maharashtra Housing Fund on 29 August 2024. Out of this, Rs. 12.80 crore has been approved for structural renovation of 12 buildings in Umar Khadi and Kamatipura areas, and the work is in progress.

A proposal for cluster redevelopment of 81 buildings in Umar Khadi area was submitted to MHADA on 3 December 2024. Meetings are being held to review the feasibility. The proposal for rehabilitation of 20 buildings was found to be unworkable, and the revised report of 36 buildings was submitted on 23 February 2026, which is under scrutiny.

Notices were issued to the building owners under Section 79(A) of the MHADA Act, 1976 for redevelopment proposals. However, the High Court stayed the proceedings on 28 July 2025 (Application No. 34771/2024). A committee comprising two retired judges has been appointed to review the notices. The matter is currently pending in the Supreme Court.

MHADA has appointed 64 structural auditors/architects to conduct structural stability audits of buildings in Mumbai. Moreover, recruitment is underway to fill the vacant posts in MHADA after the approval of the staff record on February 23, 2026. Minister of State Pankaj Bhoir said that work orders will be issued in a week and work will start in two months and a decision will be taken on this project as a vital project in a meeting with the Chief Minister, the Minister assured.