The Mumbai Building Repairs and Redevelopment Board (MBRRB), on Thursday, spoke about extending the Abhay Yojana Scheme for tenants paying rent arrears. Rent defaulters can avail a 40 per cent discount on the interest rate charged on the actual amount if they clear the pending rentals fully, informed MHADA's Public Relations office through a release. Those who wish to avail the said benefit should clear the dues between May 1 and July 31, it asserted.
MBRRB, an undertaking of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), has total rent arrears with the rate of interest amounting to Rs 129.92 crore. Tenants can pay the pending rentals only to the authorised officials, who have been appointed for the job. They, in return, will issue a receipt to the payee. The board has also warned tenants that no private individual/agency has been appointed to do the recovery.
Reportedly, the MBRRB board had started Abhay Yojana Scheme in February and March in two phases by giving 60 per cent and 40 per cent discount on rate of interest charged on actual amount. However, now, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the scheme has been extended in a bid to provide relief to those who have not yet cleared the pending rentals, stated the officials. Interestingly, the board had managed to recover some amount under this scheme, which was never paid by the tenants for several years.
MBRRB also collected rents from other non-defaulters; Rs 85.63 lakh in February and Rs 71.67 lakh in March.