Mumbai: The state government has initiated an inquiry into housing projects in Navi Mumbai after concerns emerged that developers may have failed to hand over flats to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) under the mandatory 20% inclusive housing scheme intended for economically weaker sections.
According to a report by Loksatta, the development follows the recent revelation that 49 developers in Nashik allegedly manipulated land calculations and divided plots to bypass the requirement of allocating houses to MHADA under the same scheme.
Introduced by the state government in 2013, the 20% inclusive housing scheme mandates that developers constructing projects on plots larger than 4,000 square metres in municipal areas with populations exceeding 10 lakh, excluding Mumbai, must reserve 20% of the housing units for economically weaker sections (EWS). These units are to be transferred to MHADA, which subsequently allocates them to eligible beneficiaries through a lottery system, reported Loksatta.
However, sources indicate that MHADA has not received any such housing units from projects in the CIDCO-notified areas of Navi Mumbai in recent years. This has raised suspicion that developers may have avoided transferring the flats, potentially retaining them instead.
The issue was raised during the ongoing state assembly’s budget session by MLA Shashikant Shinde, who questioned why developers in Navi Mumbai had not handed over the required housing units to MHADA. According to him, CIDCO has maintained that the 20% scheme does not apply to areas under its jurisdiction, leading to further confusion over the policy’s implementation.
In response, the state government has constituted a committee to investigate the matter. The inquiry panel will be headed by Asim Gupta, Additional Secretary in the Urban Development Department. The committee will review housing projects in Navi Mumbai to determine why MHADA did not receive flats under the scheme and whether developers failed to comply with the policy.
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