Affordable Mumbai housing gets phenomenal response

Going by the overwhelming response from people to buy affordable flats in Mumbai, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority has decided to print more forms to ensure there is no shortage of applications. "The last date to secure the form is January 30. We want to ensure that the forms will be available till the last date," H K Jawale, chief officer of the Mumbai Housing Board of MHADA told PTI.

"Though we have already printed 500,000 forms, we felt some more would be needed. Hence we have decided to print more forms," Jawale said.

As many as 88,222 forms were sold across the 21 branches of HDFC Bank on Monday, the first day for the sale of forms for the 3,863 MHADA flats across the city, official sources said. HDFC Bank has been appointed as the official seller and receiver of the forms.

"There is no question of stopping the sale of forms before the scheduled date. I am not sure of the number of additional forms to be printed, but they will be made available till January 30," Jawale said. "In fact, a meeting was held in this regard," he added.

MHADA has earned Rs 88.22 lakh (Rs 8.82 million). With a single form available for Rs 100, the housing body is expecting to sell anything between 70,000 to 100,000 forms per day, sources said. The Matunga branch has sold the highest -- about 5,600 forms on Monday, they said. The applications will be accepted by MHADA from January 13 till January 31.

While flats costing about Rs 3.3 lakh (Rs 3,30,000) each will be available for the lower income group, some flats ranging between Rs 12 lakh (Rs 1.2 million) to Rs 17 lakh (Rs 1.7 million) will be available for the middle income group. The higher income group will get flats for about Rs 56 lakh (Rs 5.6 million) each, officials said.

MHADA flats are available in suburban Andheri, Malad, Chembur, Ghatkopar, Dahisar, Goregaon, Powai, Sion and Vikhroli. Of the 3,863 MHADA flats, 1,830 flats have been reserved for SC/ ST applicants, freedom fighters, government employees, legislators and Parliamentarians.

The MHADA official urged people not to fall into the trap of agents. "Our vigilance department is keeping an eye and policemen have been deployed at various centres where forms are available," Jawale said. The public are also invited to witness the open lottery system which will be held at the end of February before allotting the flats, he said.

Meanwhile, some have demanded that the forms should be made available on the Internet. "Time is money in Mumbai. The forms should be made available on the Net as well. That will help a lot," said Shekhar Mishra, a resident of Worli, central Mumbai.

Image: People queue up outside HDFC Bank to collect application forms for MHADA houses | Photograph: Arun Patil