Mumbai, one of the busiest cities in the world, would come to a standstill if it were not for its Dabbawallas. Every morning, these Gandhi-topi clad men push carts and bicycles feeding lakhs of people with their home-cooked meals.
While we have glamourised the profession and made heroes out of them, their lives are still a struggle. Owning a house remains a distant dream for most of them.
Now, however, according to the Mumbai Mirror, the Maharashtra government is going to build houses for them under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna.
The decision to build these houses was taken in a meeting presided by Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who reportedly ordered the state departments and officers to make homes available to the dabbawalas.
Pawar also ordered to build Mumbai Dabbawala Bhavan.
Now, about 5,000 dabbawalas will have a roof over their heads that they can thankfully call their own.