A number of people who did not wish to be quoted were of the same opinion. "On one hand they say they want to increase rental housing. How will they do that if they are making some move out of this place by such a policy?
Seventy-eight-year-old Usha Raj Vij's home in Marine Drive looks the way it used to when most tenants moved in. Terrazo tiles that were popular among the architects then and ceiling fans with rotund bodies still exist. "I became a widow at 40 and since then I have been raising five kids and caring for their grandparents. I neither had the time, nor money to change anything," said Vij.
But now, it is the amendment to the rent Act that, she feels, may make her change the house itself. Residential flats like hers are in news of late for them being over 850sqft. The government's decision to amend the Act and connect rent to market rate has those like Vij complaining that the state wants them to move out of their houses.
"Even if all the income is put together, there will be barely anything left for us," said Vij, a widow who lives with her son and daughter in her 1,100sqft flat in Agarwal House, Marine Drive. Her two other daughters are married.
Tenanted by her husband in 1956, she moved in 1958 after her marriage. Rent then was Rs300, which is now nearing Rs1,000. Payment of rent and family's expense is taken care of by Vij's saving and her children's contribution. "Tomorrow if they increase the rent to market rate, there will be nearly nothing left for us. They are doing this only to benefit landlords," said Rattandeep Vij, her 52-year-old son, who is self-employed.
A number of people who did not wish to be quoted were of the same opinion. "On one hand they say they want to increase rental housing. How will they do that if they are making some move out of this place by such a policy?
Where are the additional rental homes? I can understand if they increase it by some measure, but market rate will surely leave us nowhere," said Rattandeep.
A number of tenants question the motive also because they have paid "Pagdi" amount. "They argue that we pay less rent. But we also paid a lump sum Pagdi amount when we moved in. The very policy of the state and landlords was to promote this kind of housing. They wanted rents to be less and made money when people bought and sold their tenancy. People have planned their lives accordingly, and now all of a sudden they want to change it," said Vij.
While residents have been troubled, so is the case with some of the commercial establishments. In fact, some have already started criticising the government by putting "Ämendment to Rent Act, Achhe Din for Landlords, Builders?" in their bill copy to customers.
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