6,900 flats for families of retrenched mill-workers,5,291 forms gone in a day

The forms are being sold at 15 branches of Saraswat Bank where they can be filled and submitted. Ahir added that for workers who have gone back to their villages,the MHADA may make the forms available at its regional board offices.

Under the original rules,MHADA was to receive 80 hectares for mill workers’ and public housing. However the government amended the norms and this shrank to 11.64 hectares. MHADA has till date received only 7 hectares,barely enough for 10,156 tenements when it is looking to house 1.70 lakh mill-workers’ families. To make up for the dearth,the government increased the floor space index (FSI) for such housing to 4. With MHADA forced to construct 24-storey highrises on the scarce land instead of the usual seven-storey structures,the construction cost of each 225-sq-ft flat went up to Rs 10.5 lakh.

As per norms,mill-workers will have to pay MHADA the construction cost if they get a flat under the lottery system. The whopping increase in costs has raised protests from several trade unions.

“We have brought down the price of each apartment to about Rs 8 lakh with the help of central government subsidy of Rs 2 lakh per house under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. We are looking at the possibility of bringing the costs down further,” Ahir said.