India, Oct. 27 -- 'Aapla Dawakhana', an ambitious project implemented by the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) to provide free healthcare services to the urban poor in Thane, has been shut down since August. The staff members, including nurses, housekeeping, etc., have not received their salaries for the past six months.

A delegation of Aapla Dawakhana staff met Thane MLA Sanjay Kelkar on Friday to share their grievances and sought his intervention. Many of these 40 clinics branded as "Vandaniya Balasaheb Thackeray Aapla Dawakhana" have now been converted into commercial shops, forcing the poor to seek costlier healthcare services from private doctors and hospitals. Kelkar blamed the contractor. "The Thane Municipal Corporation had award...