MHADA to have master list flats in lottery this yr

150 houses by Repair, Reconstruction Board up for grabs

Increasing the number of flats to nearly 900 in the housing lottery this year, Maharashta Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has decided to include more than 150 houses provided by the Mumbai Repair and Reconstruction Board. These extra flats would be provided from the master list. The master list is meant to rehouse occupants of cess buildings that are redeveloped.

Due to land scarcity, the authority only manages to offer nearly 760 flats this year wherein most of the flats are leftovers that were lying unused for some years. Officials said that the lottery houses are not newly constructed, however, they have been added from the previous lotteries. He said, "These flats are scattered in different housing societies and were lying unused for a very long time because of which we decided to include them in the lottery."

Similarly, the flats of the master list are from different locations and are lying unused for more than 10 years. A senior MHADA official revealed that these houses would be reserved for the economically weaker section. “Most of these flats were rejected by the previous lottery winners and were hence used to temporarily

house tenants whose original structures were being redeveloped. The flats are small in size and start from an area of 160 square feet and can go beyond 300 square feet. Even if these flats are redeveloped by the society, the developer will increase its area size as well.”

The authority directed its officials to hunt for flats that are lying empty following several reports on less

number of flats for EWS. Following this, Mumbai Repair and Reconstruction Board recently tabled a proposal for including the flats in the lottery.

Officials added that the advertisements for the lottery would be out anytime soon. The flats of this year's lottery will be from places like Goregaon, Kandivali, Pratiksha Nagar, Sion, Powai and Kannamwar Nagar at Vikhroli.