No records on total land owned in state by Mhada

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Hous-ing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) has no records of the total land it owns in the state, revealed the newly-appointed Mhada chief Uday Samant. Lack of staff in various departments has affected the maintenance of records with the authority. Further, the posts of deputy collector and tehsildars have been lying vacant in Mhada since many years.

“No officials in the housing authority know how much land holdings Mhada owns. There is no data on acres or square meters of land the authority holds. The onus of gathering such data is upon the deputy collector, tehsildar and five more juniors, but these posts are yet to be occupied,” said Mr Samant.

Further, Mr Samant has given 15 days’ time to the officials to gather data on the land records and present before him. “As there is no information on the land availability, it is affecting the output performance of Mhada,” said Mr Samant. The Mhada chief may write to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in order to ensure that the vacant posts are filled up soon.

Meanwhile, the housing authority is responsible to construct affordable hom-es under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. According to reports, Mumbai has no vacant land for affordable housing. The Mumbai Board of Mhada had set the target to construct more than 15,000 homes till 2020 for Mumbaikars, however till now only 2,500 homes have been constructed.