MHADA will release fewer homes in lottery

There is bad news for applicants who plan to apply in the upcoming lottery of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), as the housing authority has decided to decrease the number of houses that will be released this year. Apart from this, the applicants will also have to pay four per cent more on the houses towards service tax and VAT.

MHADA houses in Ghatkopar (E) that were allotted in 2009. Representational Pic

The actual number of houses that will be released in the lottery has not been fixed yet. MHADA vice president Satish Gavai said, "The number of houses that will be released in this year's lottery is less because we want to release houses which can be immediately handed over to the winners. We don't want to include the homes which are still under construction and will be ready only by next year. This year we will release approximately 2,650 houses. including Mumbai and Konkan Board."

This year, for the first time, both Mumbai and Konkan Board will jointly have a lottery. The houses of Konkan board that will be released in the lottery will be in Mira Road. "The applicants will have to pay 3.09 per cent amount as VAT and one per cent amount as service tax in addition to the cost of the house," said an official from Mumbai Board of MHADA, on condition of anonymity.

A month back, a letter was sent to MHADA by the state government which said that, hereafter, MHADA should separately charge over four per cent more on the amount of the flat an applicant wins. "Around 867 houses will be released in Mumbai, 1,726 houses of Konkan board will be released in Mira Road and other 56 houses are at scattered locations in Mumbai and six in Mira Road," said a MHADA official. MHADA had earlier said that it will come up with a lottery of around 4,000 houses.u00a0