The Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board (MBRRB) is likely to get unsold Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) lottery houses located across Mumbai for transit accommodation. An in-principle approval was given by MHADA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Anil Diggikar on Friday, following the demand made by MBRRB Chairman Vinod Ghosalkar.
Ghosalkar said, "Already there is a shortage of transit houses offered to the residents/families staying in 'most dangerous' structures. Therefore, if these unsold lottery houses are given to us, we can use them for the right purpose." These unsold houses are from the lottery draw held in between 2011 and 2019 and have been lying vacant for the past several years, he asserted.
According to the data with MBRRB, there are a total of 1,826 such unsold/surrendered lottery houses of 300 sq.mt. The lottery winners did not claim these properties for various reasons. Ghosalkar stated, "Cases of illegal occupants are already rampant in MHADA's transit camps. We are already dealing with it. If these houses continue to remain vacant/ignored, chances of illegal occupancy is possible. Therefore, to avoid such problems, using these houses for temporary accommodation is an ideal way."
Before monsoon, as an annual exercise, MBRRB identifies and declares the names of buildings that are unfit for habitation. This year, a total of 21 such buildings have been declared by this board as most dangerous. The list includes the names of 10 buildings also mentioned in the previous year. There are about 14,000 cess buildings in the island city of Mumbai. Since these buildings are beyond 80 years old, and many are also more than 100 years old, they already come in the category of dangerous buildings. However, in the pre-monsoon survey, MBRRB checks the most dangerous buildings out of it. Accordingly, it alerts residents and asks them to vacate their houses as a preventive measure.
