Mumbai: Don't hold your breath, MHADA has delayed lottery

MHADA

MHADA has yet again pushed back the annual lottery for sale of affordable houses. The reason given this time is "a technical glitch", which, officials said, will be "resolved in a short time". However, this 'technical glitch', in fact, is the alleged illegal occupation of some of the houses set to be part of the lottery.

MHADA's Repair and Reconstruction Board, which allows reconstruction of old cessed buildings in South Mumbai, gets surplus housing stock in the buildings undergoing redevelopment from the developers. This it hands over to the Authority's Mumbai Board, which is responsible for the lottery.

A senior MHADA official, said, "We are yet to verify the number of houses that might be occupied, as we have only received primary information as of now. If found to be true, the developers will have to ensure the flats are vacated, or action will be taken against them."

Another reason the lottery has been delayed is the other setback MHADA has suffered - homebuyers themselves returning these flats, part of the surplus stock and included in the lottery list, saying they find the prices unaffordable. Officials are now working on the pricing of these houses. Chief officer of MHADA Deependra Khushwah said, "The R&R Board gave us 96 houses... until their verification is done, I cannot comment on this. We are working on the pricing of these houses before the lottery is announced."

96
Houses Mhada has from the surplus stock

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