Mumbai, Apr 28 (PTI) There should be no discrimination on the basis of religion or food habits while selling or renting out flats in Mumbai, Maharashtra Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad said here on Thursday.
The NCP leader also noted that original inhabitants of the city were nonvegetarians.
Awhad was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by the real estate lobby group Naredco.
The comments came against the backdrop of allegations that Muslims or those belonging to communities which eat nonvegetarian food sometimes face discrimination when trying to purchase or rent property in India’s financial capital.
“You will tell one group of people that you eat mutton and hence you are not welcome in our (housing) society. Another group will be unwelcome because they eat fish. If a flat owner is selling, you (housing society) will ask, whom are you selling. Who are you to ask this? Let him sell (to whoever he wants to). We cannot let housing societies dictate who can one sell a flat to,” Awhad said.
“These builders do it. As government, I have requested them not to do it. Hatred is increasing because of this in our society,” the minister added.
Mumbai has been a multi-religious, multi-caste and multi-lingual city, the NCP leader said, adding, “It is this ‘multi’ that has multiplied Mumbai, it has not divided Mumbai.” “Mumbai has its own culture. You should not ruin that culture,” he said.
A person’s food habits are a private affair, Awhad said, asserting that given the city’s proximity to the sea, the original inhabitants of Mumbai were nonvegetarians.
A caste-based census conducted in 1900 confirmed this, he claimed.
Speaking at the conference, Awhad’s cabinet colleague Aaditya Thackeray said one must not look at the “builder-politician” nexus with contempt.
It is a “positive nexus” and the two are allies, he said.
Because of their collaboration, the Maharashtra government could successfully implement a scheme to reduce the stamp duty on real estate transactions which revived the sector (during the COVID-19 pandemic), he said.
Thackeray, who handles environment and tourism portfolios, also assured that environmental clearances for real estate projects will be granted quicker with the help of digitisation. PTI AA KRK KRK
