AMIDST tears of joy, as many as 400 families of slum-dwellers today got possession of their flats constructed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. The new flat owners, who were handed over the keys by Pimpri-Chinchwad Mayaor Aparna Doke, could not control their emotions as several housewives and even their daugthers cried copiously after walking into what many described as their "dream house."

The flats have been constructed in Sector 22, Nigdi by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. Each flat measures 270 square foot with a hall, a kitchen and attached toilet and bathroom.

The first to get the keys from the mayor today was 40-year-old Gautami Kamble, a widow. She works as domestic help and lives in a single room ramshackle house. “Majhe flat madhe rahnyacha swapna purna zala ahe...” (my dream of staying in a flat has been realised, said Kamble. For a while she smiled and shared a laugh with the mayor, PCMC officials and local corporators. A moment later as she narrated what the flat meant to her, Kamble started crying. "Mala kadhich vatla navahta...I never thought I would get a house like this," she said, sponging her tears with the pallu of her saree. "My son stays in Solapur as I work through the day earning Rs 1500 every month. With this meagre pay, I would not have got flat even in my life time. I want to say thank to you everybody," says Kamble, adding that she would immediately rush to Solapur to get her son back.

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