State halts bid to build PMAY homes

Looks like it is election over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project, for even after the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) floated a bid for construction of homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), housing minister Prakash Mehta’s housing department has stayed it citing various technical reasons.

Sources, however, claimed that the BJP, with a view to getting leverage out of the project during the upcoming polls, will announce the same bid in a big way two months from now.

Mr Mehta has written a letter to Mhada, the nodal agency for implementing PMAY in the state, saying it should float bids for construction of homes under PMAY only after land parcels have been transferred in the name of housing authorities. Mhada on October 24 floated a bid to construct 33,513 homes admeasuring 322 square feet priced at '10 lakh per unit in Thane, Kalyan and Khalapur.

A senior Maharashtra government official said, “A letter was sent to Mhada by Mr Mehta citing that it should initiate the bidding process for construction only after land parcels are transferred in the name of the state housing authority and not before that.”

“There are chances that a particular land parcel would not get transferred to Mhada due to unavoidable circumstances and if the state housing authority goes ahead with bidding for construction on that land parcel even before the land is transferred, the process may get stuck in legal complications with the bidder claiming to have acquired the contract for construction,” the official said.

Meanwhile, several attempts made to contact Mr Mehta did not yield any reply. S.S. Zende, chief executive officer, MHADA, confirmed having received the letter. “There are a few technicalities that are to be followed and the arrangements would be made accordingly,” he said. However, he refused to comment whether any stay has been put.

An officer claimed that most things required for the tender to be floated were in place but it was still being postponed or stayed and the only reason visible was the elections as the issues might still pertain two months from now, but then politicians would not mind releasing it, thanks to the polls.