MHADA lottery: 9,018 Mira Road homes on sale; prices start at Rs 18.43 lakh, but doubts rise over rates

Applying for the biggest MHADA lottery these figures might bother you. Earlier this week, MHADA came up with an advertisement for the sale of 9,018 homes. Only amid Mira Road homes, there’s a lot of disparity. MHADA is selling a 35.31 sq mt home to people earning above Rs 75,001 per month for Rs 19.13 lakh, while it is selling a 21 sq mt home to people earning between Rs 0-25,000 per month for Rs 18.43 lakh.

Not only this, the authority has put 19.31 sq mt homes at Rs 7.33 lakh and these homes are meant for people earning between Rs 50,001 to Rs 75,000. The justification from MHADA is that the cheaper flats are old flats, while the expensive ones are new ones, hence the variation.

The disparity is huge, because, going by this, only in one area - Mira Road - the per sq ft rate for the High Income Group is Rs 5,035, while for the Middle Income Group it is Rs 3,543, and for the Economically Weaker section, the per sq ft rate is Rs 8,170.

When contacted, Vijay Lahane, chief officer, Konkan Board said, “These (HIG and MIG) are old flats, reserved as two per cent government quota; they are now being sold by lottery. Sale prices were decided way back in 1995-2000, whereas EWS houses are newly constructed and prices are decided as per current rates.”

MHADA lottery is based on categories derived on the basis of the monthly income of a person including the spouse. There are four categories — Economically Weaker Section (EWS), Lower Income Group, Middle Income Group, and High Income Group. 

The per month salary of a person including that of his wife to be eligible to apply in the EWS category shouldn’t be above Rs 25,000. the same for LIG is Rs 25,001 to Rs 50,000, the criteria for MIG is Rs 50,0001 to Rs 75,000 and HIG is any person earning above Rs 75,001 per month.

Comrade Prakash Reddy, said that his association will be writing a letter to MHADA demanding the revision of rates. 

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“How can you sell expensive homes to the the EWS category, who is the most needy. We are collating figures after we came to know about the disparity in the rates of houses. We are writing a letter to MHADA asking them to rectify this and till then registration and application process should be stopped,” he said.