42,000 bid for Mhada homes

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) has received around 71,000 online applications and 64,000 manual registrations till October 23, which is the last day of the registration for affordable housing lottery. Despite the extension, the registrations have not increased. 42,655 people made online payments. According to officials, the reason for the tepid response is availability of fewer homes for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the lottery. The houses under EWS category have received a huge response in the past, the officials added. The Mhada had received 1.69 lakh applications last year for 972 homes.

“We were expecting the registrations to increase after the extension was announced, but still figures did not rise considerably. This has happened because this year we have only eight flats reserved for Economically Weaker Section (EWS). This group participates the most when a lottery is announced,” said a senior Mhada official. Despite the tepid response, the housing authority has no plans to extend the dates further. However, the online applications will remain operational till Tuesday midnight. While the payments will be accepted till October 26.

“Around 28,000 applicants are yet to pay the amount, thus if they do not pay it within the stipulated time then only around 41,000 will be able to participate in the lottery,” said an official from the Mumbai Board of Mhada.  The officials are expecting that the registrations may shut with 80,000 applications this year. The housing authority announced the lottery on September 14, and a total of 817 houses have been reserved for the lottery. The lottery will be announced on November 10.

“Everyone feels that the flat prices need to come down. The housing authority needs to rethink the housing policy. Drastic policy changes are required to get more participation,” said Chandrashekhar Prabhu, a housing expert. The authority had faced flak for setting high prices for houses under Higher Income Group (HIG).