Housing secretary tips off MHADA about bogus housing scheme

The secretary of the housing department has written a letter to the vigilance department of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) to take legal action against an NGO. The NGO, Arzoo Swabhimaani Nagarik Samiti, has been collecting money from the people claiming they would be providing them with affordable houses which are meant for the urban poor under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The NGO is claiming that they have been appointed by MHADA to implement this scheme and has been collecting money from the people. The group has been collecting Rs 300 from the people for filling up the forms. Though there are no official records, sources in MHADA believe that they have already looted around 1000 families.

The group has been telling the people to come together and then they would be demanding land from MHADA or affordable houses from them and give it to the people. Things came into the light when people started coming to MHADA with their queries.

Under the Basic Service for Urban Poor (BSUP) scheme, the Central government provides a subsidy of Rs 2 lakh to the agency that constructs the houses. However, MHADA has been appointed as the nodal agency to execute the construction of these houses.

" We have been appointed by the government and no other body or agency has the authority to build houses or collect money from the people for this scheme as we haven't outsourced this project to anyone" said Vaishali Sandansingh, Public Relation Officer, MHADA. Many economically backward house aspirants are not aware about the rules and are hence are a vulnerable lot. "We would like to appeal the people to verify the claims by any agency as far as housing issue are concerned," she added.