MHADA to appoint agency to fetch deatils about its land bank

The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) wants to know the areas where it owns land, across the state and in the city. The MHADA has decided to appoint an agency that will be finding out necessary details. The housing authority aims to locate its existing land bank and carry on with planning accordingly. This will help the authority to construct more houses in the state and in the city. It will also help the distribution of affordable homes to the common public via lotteries.

When MHADA president Uday Samant joined office, he had asked for the exact details of pieces of land owned by the body in the city. He had also enquired about encroachment on these parcels of land. However, he was only provided with an approximate figure of MHADA's land bank.

Meanwhile, in its recently concluded authority meeting, the body decided to outsource this work of getting to the details to an agency. The agency will also be entrusted with the responsibility of fetching information on encroachment on these pieces of land. Samant confirmed the course of action.

Once the authority comes to know about its land bank in detail, it can carry out the work of drawing a blue print of places where homes can be constructed. There is a huge demand for homes that MHADA sells via lotteries. The recently concluded City Board lottery witnessed over 1.64 lakh applications for a total of 1,384 homes.

A senior MHADA official said, "We do have land bank figures, but not all of them are confirmed. The authority, in a meeting, sought the specifics and for that, a special agency will be appointed to carry out the work of identifying, noting and providing a proper detailed report."

The MHADA has 114 layouts in the city comprising of 56 colonies. However, most of these buildings are in a dilapidated condition and need urgent redevelopment. Earlier, the MHADA had a term that whenever these buildings are redeveloped, the developer will have to provide MHADA with housing stock. However, the conditions were relaxed and while housing stock still remains in certain cases, in most, the NOC is given out on the basis of payment of premium. With a reduction in MHADA's housing stock, there is an urgent need for the authority to realise its own land bank and utilise it.