A year later, 2 of 4 projects in Thane yet to take off

A senior official from MHADA’s Konkan board said that in the beginning, the aim was to create more than 31,000 homes under PMAY in Thane district. Out of the four, work on two projects — in Khonni and Shirdhon — has started and more than 3,900 homes have been included in the Konkan board housing lottery held in August.

The officer added that two other projects, in Gotheghar and Bhandarli, are yet to get a nod from the PMAY cell. Sources in the board said that at the beginning, getting approval for Shirdhon and Bhandarli projects was the responsibility of the Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area and the City and Industrial Development Corporation. Officials said MHADA was also short of architects to complete the project designs.

“These projects were handed over to us six months ago. We faced some issues in acquiring land but the final plan for these two projects is now ready,” a source said.

Executive engineer of PMAY, Dilip Munglikar, said that there were technical problems in aquiring land. “Some of the land have reservation. Now that the issue has been resolved, the plan for work has been prepared and sent to the PMAY cell for final approval.”

Housing for all is a central government scheme coined in 2014. So far, in Maharashta, more than 25 lakh people have expressed interest in buying such homes in a survey conducted by the MHADA.