First, wait for OC, then cough up Rs 2 lakh

The happiness of 186 MHADA lottery winners in 2015, who won flats in Mulund, has been short lived. Firstly, they did not get the Occupational Certificate in time. The latest shocker is that they are being asked to cough up additional charges – Rs 2 lakh per tenant -- to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority for maintenance of these buildings.

These winners, who belonged to the Middle Income Group, had received their OC on January 10 from the civic body after a two-yearlong delay.

The lottery was conducted by MHADA on May 31, 2015, for 367 houses at Gavanpada in Mulund. Out of these, at least 186 tenants belonged to the middle-income group and the rest to the lower income groups.

The MHADA officials say they were maintaining these buildings for the past two years during the period the OC was not provided to the tenants. “During these two years, MHADA had maintained these buildings in Mulund. We now propose to recover these expenses by charging each tenant Rs 2 lakh,” said a MHADA official.

Incidentally, the tenants are being forced to bear the brunt of delay in receiving OC for no fault of theirs. The civic body did not issue the OC as there was an on-going construction work in the adjoining building.

"The OCs were held back in view of the safety aspect. The new buildings are connected and the construction work was on in the adjacent building," explained a MHADA official.

The safety rules are listed under the Development Control Regulations of BMC. The OC is issued by the civic body to signify that a particular building is complete according to the approved plan and is in compliance with law. Without the OC, it is difficult for tenants to receive connections for water and power. "We have faced such a problem for the first time on account of ‘safety’. No other projects were delayed due to such reasons," added the official.