265 transit camps tenants get Mhada homes, 100 sq ft bigger than earlier

The master list scheme aims to rehabilitate residents of dilapidated buildings in Mumbai by providing them with houses in redevelopment projects

Mumbai: The 265 tenants who are living in transit camps across the city for decades with a hope of moving into their own homes someday were in for a twin surprise on Thursday after Mhada conducted its first master list online lottery in which the winners received their new homes which is 100 sq ft bigger.

265 transit camps tenants get Mhada homes, 100 sq ft bigger than earlier

The master list scheme aims to rehabilitate residents of dilapidated buildings in Mumbai by providing them with houses in redevelopment projects.

One of the winners Pooja Shirkar, who was both emotional and ecstatic after the lottery was out, said she used to live in Kumbhar Wada in Girgaon, and was shifted to a transit camp in 2005 after the building she and her family resided in collapsed. After years of prayers and patients, she finally got her own flat on Thursday. “We were shifted to Borivali transit camp in 2005 in a small flat of 180 sq ft. We were struggling for the last two decades and finally today we got a flat with an area of 300 sq ft,” said Pooja.

Another resident Deepak Sahasane, who was living in the transit camp for 40 years became owner of his own home. “We used to live at Mazgaon Dock and our building was demolished in 1978. Since then, we have been living in the transit camp of Pratiksha Nagar in Sion. Now, after 40 years, we finally got our own home. My parents died 20 years ago and we had lost all hope of getting our own homes. We currently live in a 365 sq ft flat and we received an apartment of 445 sq ft, that too, in Dadar.” said Deepak Sahasne.

These residents were evicted from their homes as their buildings were dilapidated and some of them lost the roof over their heads due to road widening projects. These tenants were included in the master list of Mhada, which ensured that they would get their homes from the housing authority. However, this was not an easy ride; due to the lack of a transparent system of allocation of homes to the people in the master list, there were many complaints. Besides that, there was another issue regarding the charges for the extra area than the original size of homes as below 300 sq ft homes were not available in new buildings. To resolve the issue, Mhada recently decided the policy to give homes with an extra 100 sq ft area to the people in the master list at the concessional rate. Instead of market rate, Mhada had declared to give extra area at the 125% of ready-reckoner rate in that area. For example, if the original size of the home of the applicant was to 4,300 sq ft he/she will be eligible to get the home with an area of up to 400 sq ft and will have to pay for only an extra 100 sq ft at the concessional rate declared by Mhada. In another move, Mhada amended the rules to bring transparency in distribution and declared the lottery system.

Accordingly, the first such lottery was conducted at the Mhada office on Thursday. 265 residents on master lists were allocated homes through a lottery system. Of those 172 residents selected the flats with areas of 301 to 400 sq ft, 10 applicants got flats with area of 401 to 500 sq ft, five applicants got the flats with area 501 to 600 sq ft, five applicants got the flats with area 601 to 700 sq ft and seven applicants got the flats with area of 753 sq ft. Milind Shambharkar, chief officer of repairs and reconstruction board of Mhada said that the decision to allot the tenements to the eligible applicants of the master list through computerised lottery would soon put an end to the long wait by the original tenant/occupants.