Mumbai: MBRRB collects only Rs 8.5cr as rent arrears

The Mumbai Building Repairs and Redevelopment Board (MBRRB), an undertaking of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has collected only Rs 8.5 crore approximately as rent arrears by March end under the Abhay Yojna Scheme, said Arun Dongre, chief of the board. He said, "To recover the pending dues and, since we are in midst of a pandemic, we have decided to give a further extension to this scheme. It has yielded some good responses and we wish to do a full recovery soon." The MBRRB has rent arrears amounting to Rs 129.92 crore. In the Abhay Yojna scheme, it has offered a discount of 60 per cent and 40 per cent on the surplus amount levied through the interest rate on actual fees to tenants, who have defaulted rent payments from the past several years.

The tenants are transit accommodation occupants. The MBRRB has a total of 38 transit camp clusters in Mumbai having 21,149 tenements. These houses are mainly used for temporary accommodation by tenants who have vacated their dilapidated cessed buildings, especially before the rainy season or who had been asked to shift to make way for infrastructure projects. Besides, the board has also rented thousands of houses to private developers undertaking redevelopment projects in lieu of earning rent. However, several of these developers have defaulted rent payments, which is amounting to Rs 90 crore, approximately.

Like MBRRB, the Mumbai Housing and Area Development Authority, another undertaking body of MHADA, is required to recover unpaid service charges of the last 23 years from residents living in 56 MHADA colonies in the suburbs of Mumbai. To recover the dues, reportedly, it is offered an easy installment facility at a rate of 8 per cent and defaulters can complete the payment in five years time period. Those who wish to clear entire dues without availing EMI facility will not be charged surplus interest on the actual fees.