The Maharashtra government Tuesday decided to regularise around 30,000 illegal buildings in Ulhasnagar town in Thane district which faced demolition in keeping with a high court directive.

The decision to regularise the buildings was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet in Mumbai, official sources said, bringing relief to thousands of families who were on the verge of being rendered homeless following the demolition drive against illegal buildings undertaken by local civic authorities.

Hearing a bunch of public interest litigations, the Bombay High Court had directed the civic body to demolish the unauthorised structures following which the people resorted to rail and rasta roko.

However, the residents under the leadership of local MLA Pappu Kalani urged the government to take a humanitarian view of the issue and help in regularising the unauthorised structures.

Noted jurist and former Union minister Ram Jethmalani had also appealed to the state government to regularise the structures. Most residents of Ulhasnagar belong to the Sindhi community and they urged the government to find a solution to the problem. Welcoming the government move, President of Bhartiya Sindhi Samaj Pradeep Bhavnani said the decision had spared the Sindhi community from being rendered homeless.