A look into Maharashtra's Rs 40,000 crore housing scam
While Maharashtra is discussing alleged misdeed in transfer of land against the norms by two senior ministers, Prakash Mehta and Subhash Desai, Mail Today has found a massive grab of the Floor Space Index (FSI) in Mumbai. FSI is the numeric value that indicates the total amount of area on a plot of land one can build on. As per the state housing department, at least six builders have grabbed the FSI worth of at least Rs 40,000 crore.
Five years ago the state-run Maharashtra Housing And Redevelopment Authority (MHADA) had awarded contracts to redevelop dilapidated buildings between Kandivali and Bandra in the western suburbs of Mumbai.
As per the rules, a contractor has to first construct flats to be handed over to original tenants. Then, he can construct other buildings on the rest of the land in 1:2 ratio. In other words, he is allowed construct on 2,000 sqmetre for every 1,000 sqmetre available and sell the flats in open market.
He should surrender 10 per cent of the flats in the salable buildings to the MHADA for its consumption. MHADA allots the flats to eligible people from economically weaker sections. As none of the builders have followed the rule, MHADA’s scheme of affordable houses for common people has taken a bad hit.
Documents available with Mail Today show that MHADA was entitled of getting around 16 lakh sqmetre of FSI but it received only 42,283 sqmetre till July 20. As the market price of the FSI in question varies from Rs 30- 50,000 per sqft depending on the locality, the MHADA has suffered a loss to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore.
Minister of state for housing Ravindra Waikar admits the rot. He points that the builders in question have deprived MHADA of its legitimate share in the housing. “I suspect some MHADA officials are working at the behest of the builders,” he said. Waikar, however, refused to name the officials or the builders.
“I have recommended the government to form a special investigative team to ban the culprits.”
The shoddy state of implementation of law in Mumbai has already become a subject of heated debate after an RTI activist Sandeep Yeole alleged that owners of Omkar Developers gave him a bribe of Rs 40 lakh in cash in lieu of convincing the slum dwellers in Vikhroli to give their nod for their redevelopment project. The developer too has filed a complaint against Yeole for levelling baseless allegations. The police have not booked either of them.
Since then Yeole has been running from pillar to post with the cash urging elected representatives and government officials to take the amount in their custody. No one has shown interest though.
Time to rethink on law enforcement policies?
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)