Maharashtra to use defence land for housing

The state government is considering allocating land reserved under the no-development zones and also land belonging to the ministry of defence for construction of affordable housing in Mumbai. The idea has come under fire from the opposition, however, as they demand that the land should be given to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) and not private builders.

The defence ministry and Maharashtra government have entered into an agreement that will allow land under the ministry’s possession in Mumbai to be used for construction for affordable housing.

Housing minister Prakash Mehta said, “We are considering using salt pan land, defence land, airport authority land and Bombay port trust (BPT) land for construction of affordable housing. We will also look after the encroachment by slum dwellers in defence land and will relocate them by allocating land in other parts of the state.”

According to Mr Mehta, the blueprint for affordable housing in Mumbai and the rest of the state will be out soon.

However, the Opposition has rounded on the state government’s idea.

Former housing minister Sachin Ahir said, “The state government should also consider Mhada for reserved land for construction and not the private builders. Private builders have been lobbying for it from the past five-six years and in the past they had also requested us to do the same, but we had refused to agree to it”.

Anuj Puri, chairman and country head, JLL India, which offers real estate services, said, “It is a good idea to consider using land reserved for no-development zones for construction of affordable housing, but the government should also consider the fact that the land is also given to both the private builder and the Mhada because both cater to different set of buyers.”

According to a senior Mhada official, the previous Congress-NCP government had decided to allocate land under the no-development zone to Mhada for construction of houses, but the current BJP-Shiv Sena government is believed to have plans to give the land to private builders.