Mumbai: In a bid to prevent errant agents from cheating homebuyers during its lottery, the Maharastra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) has set up a helpline for people to complain about such agents or groups. The vigilance officers from Mhada will be responsible for handling the complaints from citizens.

Citizens can contact Maharastra Housing and Area Development Authority at telephone number: 02266405445, which was given out by the authority Friday. “We had received complaints about agents and certain groups luring homebuyers for lottery homes and later cheating them. Now we have set up this helpline which will be accessible on all working days. Once we get a complaint, it will be directly forwarded to the Mumbai police for further action,” said Uday Samant, president, Mhada.

The lottery of 1,384 houses is scheduled to be announced on December 16 with 35,000 applicants having applied for the homes so far. Of the total applicants, 28 have applied for Mhada’s costliest flat of Rs 5.80 crore under the high income group category.

Further, Mr Samant also revealed that the Mhada had recently intimated all developers not to charge homebuyers Goods and Services Tax (GST) if the structure had received an Occupation Certificate (OC).