Based on the revelation, the activist who posed the RTI query pegs the
loss at Rs 14,000 crore
Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has not
received around 5,000 flats from private builders since 2006, reveals a reply
to a query raised under Right to Information (RTI) Act.
To an RTI application by social activist Kamlakar Shenoy, the housing
authority has admitted that in 266 cases it is yet to receive flats with a
cumulative area of 1.05 lakh sq m in the island city. Shenoy estimates the
claims value of these flats to be nearly Rs14,000 crore.
The issue pertains to redevelopment of the cessed buildings in the
island city. The cessed buildings are mostly those buildings which were built
in the first half of the last century and whose rents are protected under Rent
Control Act. As rents were frozen, owners lost interest in maintaining these
buildings.Subsequently, these buildings were handed over to MHADA for repairs
and maintenance, and in return, MHADA collects cess on rent from tenants of
these buildings.
There were 22,000 such buildings in the island city (between Colaba and
Nariman Point in the south and Mahim and Sion in the north of Mumbai); of
these, around 2,000 were redeveloped by MHADA and 4,000 by private developers.
The private builders get extra FSI for redeveloping these buildings and
have to share the excess FSI awarded to them with MHADA and hand over a
pre-decided percentage of constructed flats to MHADA free of cost. In 29 cases,
FIRs were registered by MHADA in various police stations against builders for
selling these flats without handing them over to it. However, in none of the
cases has MHADA initiated civil proceedings to take these flats back from
builders, Shenoy pointed out.
Considering the rate of real estate in island city is between Rs 40,000
and Rs 50,000 per sq ft, the total amount locked in these flats is around Rs
14,000 crore.
Housing rights activist and convenor of Ghar Bachao Andolan, Simpreet
Singh, said, “Considering this government has given the slogan `Housing For All
by 2022', it is its duty to recover flats which are due to MHADA and allot them
to economically weaker sections of the society.“
In response to text message, MHADA CEO Sambhaji Zende said that he was
out of station and will be available for comment only on Thursday.
Credit : http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/
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