Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi handed over the keys to the slum-dwellers of Shroffwadi in a colourful function at the sprawling Kamgaar Kreeda Maidan.

Speaking on the occasion, he asked the new flat owners not to sell their property redeveloped under the government's Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme.

"It is a good place to live, but see that you don't leave the flat just for the sake of money," the senior Sena leader said.

It was Sena chief Bal Thackeray's dream to provide 40 lakh houses to the poor in the commercial capital, he said.

During Joshi's Chief Ministership (1995-99), the Sena- BJP alliance government had introduced the Shiv Shahi Prakalp to provide free housing to slum-dwellers with better amenities and facilities.

However with the change of government, the Congress- led ruling alliance scrapped the Shiv Shahi Prakalp, but on the same line introduced SRA, a Sena leader said on the sidelines of the function.

The three eight-storeyed buildings, constructed within 24 months at a cost of Rs 15 crore, had faced a lot of problems at the initial stages, Kashyap Mehta, Chief Executive of Sunshine Group Developers, said.

But with help from local residents and their dedication to develop their locality, the project has now become a reality, Kashyap said.

Most of the residents, staying in the locality for the last over four decades, were facing all sorts of difficulties in small houses, said a beaming Ramchandra Ambre, one of the beneficiaries.

Ambre, originally hailing from the picturesque Konkan region, has spent most of his life here in a small hut. "We had to struggle to get drinking water, face frequent power cuts and also police harassment on petty issues," he said.