Mumbai: To carry out the maintenance and repair of the cessed buildings, the state government should allocate Rs200 crore in its forthcoming budget.
A letter has been written by Vinod Ghosalkar, the Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board (MBRRB) Chairman and former Shiv Sena MLA, making this demand. The MBRRB is a MHADA undertaking.
Speaking to FPJ, Ghosalkar said, “Last year, the former CM, Devendra Fadnavis-led state government had instructed Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) to give Rs100 crore to the MBRRB.
The MHADA had provided the funds only on the condition of returning the money. However, going by the rulebook, the state is liable to provide funds from its kitty, which was not done by the erstwhile government.”
He further stated the MBRRB generated a revenue of Rs200 crore but its annual expenditure is Rs350 crore. The fill the gap of this fund, the state needs to pay the board to ensure timely execution of repairs.
Justifying his demand, he prompted that the corporation on the behalf of MBRRB, collects cess and hand it over to the state. Therefore, the state must pay them back.
In 2019, the MBRRB generated Rs170 crore by sanctioning no-objection certificates to developers to carry out redevelopment of buildings and other related works, while Rs70 crore was collected through rents from transit houses.
In Mumbai, there are about 14,000 cess buildings mainly located in South Mumbai. MBRRB collect repair cess from the tenants of these buildings.
