Flats for legislators row: Only 35 lawmakers opted for MHADA houses in 15 years
Mumbai: In view of the state government’s decision to provide 300 low-cost apartments to legislators, it has come to light that just 35 lawmakers have taken possession of the total 358 houses reserved for them in the last 10 lottery draws held in Mumbai over the last 15 years
Mumbai: In view of the state government’s decision to provide 300 low-cost apartments to legislators, it has come to light that just 35 lawmakers have taken possession of the total 358 houses reserved for them in the last 10 lottery draws held in Mumbai over the last 15 years.
MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Corporation) reserves 2% flats for legislators and MPs, both incumbent and past, in every draw held in Mumbai and other parts of the state. The houses are roughly over 30% cheaper than the market rate.
Of the total 17,978 houses built and put up for the allotment by MHADA from 2008, 358 were reserved for legislators as part of their 2% quota. However, according to the data from MHADA, only 35 legislators opted for or were eligible to get the possession of the house.
Questions are being raised over the MVA government’s claim that legislators do not have and cannot afford the houses in Mumbai, where they frequent for work related to their constituencies. In most cases, the legislators do not apply for MHADA flats in the lottery and as a result, apartments go unclaimed. One of the main reasons for not applying is because the legislators do not fit in the annual income criterion fixed by the authority for economically weaker section (EWS) and low-income group (LIG) flats.
The monthly family income of the applicants needs to be less than ₹25,000 for economically weaker sections while it needs to be between ₹25,001 and ₹50,000 for the low-income group. Applicants with income between ₹50,000 - ₹75,000 can apply for the middle-income group flats, while those earning ₹75,000 and above can opt for high-income group (HIG) flats -- two categories lawmakers fit in because of their income.
Most of the ex-legislators earn more than ₹50,000 as pension and ₹10,000 monthly depending on the terms they serve. The current legislators are getting ₹2.61 lakh in monthly compensation, including ₹1.82 lakh as salary and the rest as perks, as per the revision of the salary done in 2016-17.
Apart from this, in 2009, the then state government instructed MHADA to keep aside 225 plush 900-square feet apartments for legislators in Rajyog Cooperative Housing society at Versova. These were offered to the legislators at a heavily discounted price of ₹42 lakh in comparison to the market price of ₹1 crore. Presently, these flats fetch about ₹2 crore.
Right to Information (RTI) activist Anil Galgali questioned the very logic of these 300 houses for the legislators. “Why is the state government hellbent on giving legislators houses when they already have a separate quota in every MHADA housing? These legislators do not apply for these houses and they go empty. In the schemes like Rajyog, many legislators who already had houses in Mumbai still took another one violating the rules and then sold off them to make a profit. It is more of a money-making scheme. These legislators take subsidized houses and sell them at market price,” he said.
Kapil Patil, a member of the Maharashtra legislative council from the teachers’ constituency, had refused to take the low-cost apartment in the Rajyog housing scheme. He said that various privileged classes should be excluded from the MHADA scheme.
“MHADA’s main aim is to provide low-cost houses to those who cannot afford the market price. However, the government comes up with schemes for the politicians, judiciary and bureaucrats who are well off. They need to be excluded as they enjoy multiple perks,” said Patil.
In the Rajyog case, it was found that many of the legislators had flats in Mumbai which is against the basic rule for the eligibility to apply for the MHADA flats. In addition, many of the legislators did not pay penalties for late payments for years. The state government had failed to act due to the pressure of the legislators in the society.
State housing minister Jitendra Awhad had on March 24 announced that 300 flats are being built in Goregaon on a plot owned by MHADA for the legislators elected from outside Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). He said that the plot has been identified and the MHADA will take responsibility for the construction of High Income Group (HIG) flats. Following widespread criticism, the housing minister had clarified that the flats will not be free and will cost ₹70 lakh. He also said that flats will be allotted only to those lawmakers who don’t own a house in MMR.
Talking to HT, Awhad defended his decision saying that only 100 houses will be taken up by the legislators while the rest will be allotted to the general public. “Not more than 100 legislators will take part in this scheme. The rest 200 will be sold to the general public. Legislators from the rural parts of the state need houses in Mumbai. They come to Mumbai every week for their constituency related work in Mantralaya (State Headquarters) and hence need accommodation,” he said.
The minister said that houses will help to revive their career. “Suppose there is some MLA from a rural area that does not get elected after serving two terms. To improve his prospect of being elected again by working for the constituency, he needs to constantly visit Mantralaya and to be able to be in that position, he needs a house in Mumbai,” defended Awhad.
Awhad’s announcement which was later reiterated by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in the lower house fetched huge criticism all across, including opposition from legislators of the Congress Party, the junior partner in Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
A virtual slugfest erupted between Awhad and Congress legislator Zeeshan Siddique on Twitter over the issue. Siddique posted that he will not accept a house when thousands of his voters in the Vandre (East) constituency were living in dilapidated conditions. He urged the state government to divert this money towards building houses for such people instead of MLAs.
Another Congress legislator Praniti Shinde, who is the daughter of former Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, said the money should be given to rural patients coming to Mumbai for treatment. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MLA Raju Patil too opposed the scheme.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar also expressed displeasure on the step. “It was taken by the MVA government but in my personal opinion they should not construct houses for the legislators, instead a separate quota should be created for legislators in houses constructed by MHADA,” Sharad Pawar had said.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) in its report had stated that 264 or 93% of the total 288 MLAs in the current Assembly have assets worth more than ₹1 crore, while 180 of them have declared their assets to be more than ₹5 crore.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Raj Thackeray in his Gudi Padwa rally opposed the scheme. “Let these legislators swap their farmhouses with MHADA houses. Then I have no problem,” taunted Thackeray.