The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) may be a government body, but if you were to judge from its actions alone, it is no better than a private builder.

In a city that needs some 1 lakh new homes every year, MHADA isn’t doing much to help. In the lottery this year, they have 997 homes; not even a perfect thousand. What is more disturbing is that despite the government’s direction to sell houses based on carpet area only, MHADA is selling them on built-up area instead. When its own body isn’t following the rules, how can the government expect private builders to obey?