State will create 30,000 housing stock in the next two years: Awhad

He said the MVA government was promising 500-square-feet homes to slum dwellers under the SRA but chaos at the local level was hurting development

The state government will create a stock of 30,000 housing units in the next two years, Minister Jitendra Awhad said in the Assembly on Tuesday. He said the affordable housing scheme will begin on wMay 1 and will be completed in two years.

Awhad told the House 10 per cent each of houses built by Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) will be reserved for police personnel and Class IV government staff. Land totalling 25,000 acres acquired by SEZ developers but lying unused will be taken back by the government after paying these firms and will be used to construct affordable houses, he said. The government is contemplating a bill on this issue, he added. "If this is done, five lakh affordable houses can be constructed in five years," he said.

Speaking on the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), he said submission of proposal to final approval will be done in a span of 90 days through a single-window system. Speaking during the debate, BJP's Parag Alvani said 600 out of 1,600 SRA projects were facing problems and demanded the setting up of complaint resolution committees at the divisional level. He said the MVA government was promising 500-square-feet homes to slum dwellers under the SRA but chaos at the local level was hurting development.

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