This low response comes despite the housing authority granting a week's extension for the registration and payments for the lottery.
So far, only 56,000 applicants for MHADA's Konkan board have paid money for the lottery for 9,018 houses. Last year, its Mumbai board received money from nearly 63,000 participants for a mere 819 houses. The primary reason for the disparity in the home prices is that expensive homes have been allotted for lower income group while cheaper homes have been allotted for higher income groups. The lottery will be held on August 25.
This low response comes despite the housing authority granting a week's extension for the registration and payments for the lottery. A senior official said that they were expecting a huge response as this was the biggest lottery.
A fine example of the disparity in the price of houses can be seen in Mira Road itself where MHADA is selling a 35.31 sq mt house to people earning above Rs 75,001 a month for Rs 19.13 lakh. On the other hand, it is selling a 21 sq mt home to people earning between Rs 0-25,000 per month for Rs 18.43 lakh. Not only this, the authority has put 19.31 sq mt homes at Rs 7.33 lakh and these homes are meant for people earning between Rs 50,001 to Rs 75,000. MHADA's justification to the disparity is that the cheaper flats are old, while the expensive ones are new ones.
When contacted, Vijay Lahane, the chief officer for Konkan board denied that the response is lukewarm. "We have 9,018 and we have received more than 56,000 applications who have paid the money. The response had been good even then if we had received 9,018 applications."
Compare this to the days when MHADA would get lakhs of responses for a few thousand houses. However, the response has been lowering and officials claim housing prices are the reason for the same.
MHADA lottery is based on categories derived on the basis of the monthly income of a person, including their spouse. There are four categories — Economically Weaker Section (EWS), Lower Income Group, Middle Income Group, and High Income Group.
The monthly salary of a person including that of his wife to be eligible to apply in the EWS category shouldn't cross Rs 25,000. The same for LIG is Rs 25,001 to Rs 50,000, the criteria for MIG is Rs 50,0001 to Rs 75,000 and HIG is any person earning above Rs 75,001 per month.
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