Mhada flats out of 'aam admi's' reach
While the price of an EWS house is Rs8 lakh, that of an LIG set-up is Rs17 lakh.
Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), which claims to be the state government’s sole nodal agency constructing affordable houses for the last six decades, will announce this year’s sale of affordable houses on April 17.
But the prices listed by the agency for these houses are no way affordable to the aam admi.
Mhada will sell 3,000-odd flats to people belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Lower Income Group (LIG). While the tentative cost of a EWS house would be around Rs6 lakh to Rs8 lakh, an LIG house would cost around Rs15lakh to Rs17 lakh.
It may be recalled that the state government has adopted the definition of affordable housing on the basis of the recommendations made by the Dipak Parekh Committee. As per the panel recommendations, adequate privacy, space, security, lighting, heating, ventilation, basic infrastructure should be available at affordable costs. The beneficiary should be in a position to hold this asset through his regular source of income.
The committee further suggested that houses for people belonging to EWS and LIG categories should be 300 to 600 sq ft and it’s cost should be four times lesser than the annual income of the beneficiary. Besides, the easy monthly installment or the rent should be 30% less than the household monthly income. For the beneficiary in Middle Income Group (MIG), the house area should not be less than 1,200 sqft and its costs would be five times lesser than the annual income of the beneficiary. Besides, the easy monthly installment or the rent should be 40% less than the household monthly income.
The state government had approved the draft of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) a couple of months ago. Ironically, Mhada has seemingly not considered the recommendations while fixing the prices of these houses.
Senior Mhada officials said Mhada has its own pricing policy, which includes cost of the land, construction cost. Generally profit made from MIG (15%) and HIG (20%) projects used to make EWS and LIG houses affordable.