Hindustan Times 06.10.2010
Beware of tall promises, Mhada tells residents
Faced by a spate of complaints of builders making unreasonable offers to tenants of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) colonies to secure development rights, the housing body has decided to issue an advisory to tenants residing in such premises. This decision has been taken as builders, faced with cut-throat competition, have been promising large, spacious houses, modern amenities along with a handsome corpus funds, many of which were found to be unrealistic.
“We have found that many proposals do not make any sense at all and simply cannot be viable,” said Amarjit Singh Manhas, chairman, Mhada, (Mumbai). “We will survey individual buildings, tell them of the status of the plot and the realistic area which they can expect in the redeveloped building,” Manhas said.
However, Manhas maintained, it would be purely an awareness exercise and that residents would have to take a final decision in all matters of redevelopment.
Mhada, with its 56 colonies around the city, has been a favoured redevelopment destination for most builders due to the well-planned layouts.
Mhada has been getting a lot of queries from residents about the redevelopment proposals they have been receiving from builders.
A well-known builder has been offering 1,012 square-foot flats to residents of Ram Krishna Melody Society. These residents are currently living in 440 square-foot houses.
Similarly, some buildings at Tagore Nagar in Vikhroli are getting offers of 1,200 square feet, which is almost four times the current 300 square feet they occupy.
Welcoming the decision, the Maharashtra Chambers of Housing Industry (MCHI) said some checks and balances were necessary.
“My company pulled out of the Tagore Nagar project as we realised that some builders were offering deals that were absolutely unreasonable and not viable at all,” said Sunil Mantri, president, MCHI, who also heads Sunil Mantri Realty Limited.
Mantri said non-viable projects only resulted in delaying the projects indefinitely and a spate of litigations, which defeats the revamp process ultimately.
