The number of applications received for the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) flats were significantly lower this year.
Only 65,126 people applied for the 819 houses on offer, a lottery for which was held by the MHADA in Bandra on Friday. The event was attended by Housing Minister Ravindra Waikar and Vinod Tawde, Guardian Minister for Mumbai. Last year, 1.36 lakh people applied for 972 flats on offer.
Only eight out of the 819 houses were built for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category, while 338 houses in the lottery belonged to the High Income Group (HIG) category, the most among all income categories. As many as 281 Middle Income Group (MIG) houses and 192 Lower Income Group (LIG) houses were also part of the lottery.
MHADA officials have said that the next lottery will have approximately 3,000 houses up for offer and will consist of more LIG and EWS houses. Mr. Tawde said: “We will be floating a tender next week for a new MHADA development in Goregaon East, which will have around 5,000 houses.”
The most expensive houses are two HIG flats (475 square feet) in Lower Parel costing ₹1.95 crore. The largest cluster of HIG flats was at Tungwa in Powai with 168 tenements of 739 square feet costing nearly ₹1.34 crore. The smallest house was a LIG flat in Chandivali measuring 185 square feet. The cheapest houses in the lottery were five EWS flats in Prateeksha Nagar; each 225 square feet in size and costing ₹15.36 lakh.
The eight EWS flats are located in Prateeksha Nagar, Mankhurd, Chandivali, Magathane, Borivali. The HIG flats are situated in Lower Parel, Kandivali and Powai. The LIG flats on offer are in Kannamwar Nagar, Charkop in Kandivali, Siddharth Nagar in Goregaon, Chandivali, Mankhurd, and Malvani in Malad. The MIG flats are located in Prateeksha Nagar, Siddharth Nagar and Unnat Nagar in Goregaon, Charkop in Kandivali and Malvani.
A total of 65 of the 819 flats in the lottery have been constructed. All but one MIG flat is under construction and 48 of the 338 HIG houses are ready.