Mhada proposes new income slabs

If things go according to plan, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada)’s proposal of increasing the income slab of the four groups it caters to is likely to come into effect this year itself. Thus the Mumbai Board’s lottery scheduled for June may have the revised income slab.

According to the proposal, the economically weaker section group’s income slab has been increased from the current Rs 12,000 to Rs 25,000 per month; Lower Income Group (LIG) slab will be between Rs 26,000 and Rs 61,000, Middle Income Group (MIG) will be between Rs 61,000 and Rs 75,000 and the Higher Income Group (HIG) will be above Rs 75,000.

“The main aim is to bring uniformity with the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) which has also kept the income slab for the EWS category as Rs 25,000. However, as of now the proposal is only for Mumbai and the income slabs for Konkan region, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad and Nagpur remains unchanged,” said a senior Mhada official, who did not wish to be named.

According to Mhada, the logic behind changing the income slab is to provide houses to as many people as possible as owing to the current income slab it is sometimes impossible for many potential buyers to apply in the lottery conducted by Mhada.

The Mhada expects that changing the income slab will increase the demand in the form of more potential buyers applying online for the lottery, which is to be conducted next month. Mhada will announce the lottery for 970 homes, which is at least 10 per cent less than the number of homes it had on sale in 2015. “We are waiting for the housing ministry to give a nod for bringing the new income slab into effect from this year itself, after which we will formally announce the dates of the lottery,” added the senior Mhada official.