AGE CORRESPONDENT
Mumbai
May 30: Slumdog Millionaire child-actor Rubina’s father Rafiq Quereshi is not satisfied with the house offered by the state government at Malawani, Malad. He feels that it would have been better if the government had allotted his family a house at Bandra or Santa Cruz.
Denying the reports that he has refused to accept the government house, Mr Quereshi on Saturday said, “I have sought the time of two or three days to decide. On Friday evening, I visited the Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority (Mhada) building at Malawani, where the state government has offered a home to Rubina. The 180-square-feet house is too small and far off at Malawani. Which is why I am confused. It would have been better if the government had offered us a house at Bandra or Santa Cruz,” he said.
The other child artist of the movie, Azharuddin has also been offered a house in the same building.
However, Azharuddin’s mother Shamim Ismail said that she has not received any official communication from the state government or Mhada about the offer. She said that she would definitely accept the offer, if made.
Maharashtra chief minister (CM) Ashok Chavan on Friday, announced that Azharuddin and Rubina will get permanent homes in a Mhada colony at Malwan. Azharuddin’s and Rubina’s homes in the Garib Nagar slums of Bandra were demolished earlier this month by civic authorities because they were illegal.
According to the state government’s offer, the Slumdog actors will be allotted homes from the CM’s discretionary quota, as this is a special case and the cost of the houses, each estimated at around Rs 4 lakhs, would be borne by the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC).
The BMC had demolished the shanties at Garib Nagar, including Azhar’s on May 14. By Saturday, most residents in Garib Nagar had finished rebuilding their makeshift shacks, which were again demolished, except for Azhar’s.
Azhar’s mother Shamim Ismail said that probably the authorities did not know about Azhar when they first demolished their house. “Now that they know that Azhar has acted in the Oscar winning film, they spared our house,” she said.
