Four months after the home department set the balls rolling to provide a self-sufficient township for constables, the Mumbai police has allotted 7,999 constables houses of their own at a mega township in Panvel.
The Asian Age had in November last year reported how the home department had provided a ray of hope for police constables by planning a self-sufficient township for those who do not have a house of their own.
“Of the 11,347 constables who applied for houses under the scheme, 7999 have been allotted houses in the township. Out of these, the first 163 applicants to be allotted houses are the kin of those who died while on duty. Health disorders like heart problems, asthma and high blood pressure have claimed lives of many constables, and often they were the sole breadwinners of their families. Such families have been given preference,” said a senior police officer.
The home department has already bought a plot of land for the township, which is 10 minutes from the Panvel railway station, and around 15 minutes from the proposed site of the Navi Mumbai airport.
It is supposed to house at least 10,000 constables and will have essential requirements like a school, a college, a hospital as well as other facilities like a jogging track, a wedding hall and a shopping centre.
More than 3,000 applicants are currently on the waiting list, and their applications are being screened. Meanwhile, tenders will soon be invited to construct residential buildings, as well as other facilities proposed for the township.