5,000 dabbawalas, 7,000 cobblers to get homes under PMAY

Mumbai: Continuing with its strategy to dole out sops ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections, the Mahayuti government on Friday announced that it will allot 500-sqft homes to 5,000 dabbawalas and 7,000 cobblers at affordable rates near Thane. These 12,000 homes will be a part of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), the central government’s affordable housing scheme, and built under a public-private partnership.
The housing project will be built on 46 acres of land on the Thane-Bhiwandi highway, around 9 km from Thane railway station. It would be a complete township, with facilities such as a school, hospital, garden, shopping centre, and community hall.
Ahead of the assembly polls in November, the Mahayuti government has been focusing on schemes offering direct benefits to women, youth, farmers, and various caste-based and professional communities. It has now decided to target dabbawalas, Mumbai’s world-famous bicycle couriers who have been ferrying tiffin boxes around the city for over 130 years. The state government, and the Bharatiya Janata Party in particular, has also focused on the cobbler community in this housing scheme.
A Memorandum of Understanding regarding this affordable housing scheme was signed on Friday between the Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association, the Charmakar Association and Priyanka Homes Realty at the Sahyadri Guest House in the presence of deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) will oversee the scheme.
The number of dabbawalas in Mumbai has dropped from over 5,000 pre-Covid to around 2,000 currently as a result of lockdowns and remote working becoming popular. However, all 5,000 dabbawalas who were working before Covid will be considered for the scheme, according to Ulhas Muke, president of the Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association.
“As per the proposal, a dabbawala will get a 500 sqft home for around ₹25 lakh. But considering the average income of a dabbawala is just around ₹20,000 per month, we have requested the government to provide the homes at around ₹15 lakh. Around 70%-80% of dabbawalas live in rental homes across Mumbai and this housing scheme will benefit them all,” said Muke.
Fadnavis assured the dabbawalas that the state government would consider their financial issues and extend all possible help. “The 60-year-old dream of a dabbawala to have their own homes in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region will now come true in the next three years through this housing scheme,” he said.