Kamat thanks Mumbai MHADA Board for rejecting flat rate hike

Mumbai, Feb 1 (UNI) Mumbai Congress president Gurudas Kamat has thanked the Mumbai MHADA Board for rejecting Dr T Chandrashekhar's proposal to hike rates of MHADA flats and make them equivalent to Ready Reckoner Rates that would have hiked the rates of flats making them unaffordable for the lower income and middle income groups.

Earlier a Mumbai Congress delegation of MPs, MLAs and district Congress Committee presidents had called on Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on January 21 to discuss several issues relating to the city's development, one of them being the probable steep escalation in rates of MHADA flats.

On hearing views of elected representatives of the city, the Chief Minister had promised to reject the proposal submitted by Dr Chandrashekhar.

Dr Chandrashekhar, who is the Vice President and CEO of MHADA, has put in his papers and the decision of accepting his resignation is pending with the Chief Minister.

The Mumbai MHADA Board, which is authorised to fix the prices of MHADA flats, met formally last evening and rejected Dr Chandrashekhar's proposal to hike the rates flats and has recommended to the Government that flats for lower income and middle income groups be sold as per the old pattern and not as per the Ready Reckoner Rates.

This will bring down the rates of MHADA flats, which are now ready for sale, as also lakhs of tenements MHADA proposes to construct in future for the lower income and the middle income groups, Mr Kamat said.

UNI MR NM SP RAI1855