Maharashtra Housing Authority receives 58,000 applications for 5,915 affordable homes in Pune

The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) , Pune has received 58,000 applications for its low income housing scheme for 5,915 households

The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) , Pune has received 58,000 applications for its low income housing scheme for 5,915 households. According to MHADA authorities it has received a whopping 6,000 applications for different houses belonging to Low Income Group (LIG) categories. The lottery of the housing allocation letters will be held on March 8.

According to MHADA authorities it has received a whopping 6,000 applications for different houses belonging to Low Income Group (LIG) categories (HT FILE PHOTO)

For the first time, the authorities made it compulsory to submit a domicile certificate as proof along with income certificate and caste certificate for the persons who applied from the reserved and scheduled caste category. This created challenges for applicants. All the applications were accepted online, the deadline for which was February 25.

MHADA released 5,915 units under different programmes, including 2,594 flats under the 20% comprehensive housing programme and 396 flats under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. The scheme offers 2,925 homes offered on a first-come, first-served basis. This year, a new computer system termed Integrated Housing Lottery Management System (IHLMS) 2.0 was adopted which caused challenges for the MHADA authorities .

There were complaints of human interference in the lottery of MHADA houses. Initially, after the process started, the old residence proof was not accepted in the computer system. Hence, applicants had to rush to get it. After that, necessary changes in the system were made, and a link was given to issue a new certificate. Also, the verification of documents proved to be time-consuming.

MHADA made it mandatory for the applicants to computerise their PAN card, Aadhaar card, resident certificate, income certificate, and other documents while filling out the application. Most applications could not be filed due to technical difficulties.

Chandrashekha Hagwane, an applicant said, “It became difficult to get the documents converted as per the technical specification and I had to take help of a computer software expert to get the work done. Now, we have uploaded the details and we are waiting for a positive outcome.”