MHADA lottery on May 31, applications from April 27

For millions of house hunters looking for affordable housing, there is something to cheer about. The Mumbai board of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) will conduct its fourth consecutive lottery on May 31.

The decision was taken on Tuesday after a meeting of the heads of the departments of the authority.

The authority has decided that applications for the lottery draw will be accepted from April 27 onwards, while the lottery for 4,034 flats will be conducted on May 31.

“The applications will be filled online and the applicant after filling the details, will have to take a print, fix his or her photograph, sign and submit it with a demand draft or a pay order in Axis Bank which has been selected as the official banker for the lottery this year,” informed Mumbai board chairman Amarjitsingh Manhas. He further added that the flats will be a combination of under construction and ready possession flats. The completion of the construction of all the flats has been scheduled by March 2012.

“The applications and payment can be done at 65 selected branches of Axis Bank in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai areas. For those applicants who are not familiar with online application procedures, arrangements are being made for tie-ups with around 85 cyber cafes,” added Manhas. Loans on the deposit amount will be provided by the bank so that the applicant can fill more number of applications. Those applicants filling their bank account details in the application will get refunds within 72 hours by way of Electronic Clearing System (ECS).

The forms will be available on www.mhada.maharashtra.gov.in and authorities are expecting a maximum of 5,000 applications per minute to be filled.

However, arrangements have been made for the website to handle a load of 20,000 applications per minute. In 2008, 870 flats were sold, followed by 3,863 apartments in the year 2009 and 3,449 units in 2010.