By IANS,
Mumbai : The Maharashtra government’s new policy to construct half a million rental homes for the poor in the city would particularly benefit migrants from other states, central Minister for Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja noted here.
The minister, who was in Mumbai to take part in a seminar, visited the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) headquarters Saturday to get an overview of the rental housing scheme for the economically backward sections.
MMRDA Commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad explained to her the salient features of the scheme announced here a couple of days back.
Selja said that currently there is a shortage of 24.70 million houses all over the country and rental housing could “contribute significantly to reduce this shortage.”
Lauding the MMRDA scheme, Selja observed that it will serve as a major boost for the rental housing concept and effectively serve the cause of the economically weaker sections all over the country. It would particularly benefit those who migrate from other states or have been transferred but cannot afford to buy a house in a city like Mumbai.
Gaikwad said that under the scheme, the MMRDA planned to construct 500,000 rental tenements, over the next five years in and around Mumbai to arrest the proliferation of slums.
The first lot of 35,000 rental homes would come up within a year in collaboration with M/s Dhanashree Developers at Vasai, in adjacent Thane district.
The eligibility criteria stipulates a minimum annual income of Rs.60,000 and allotment in the joint names of husband and wife if the applicants are married.