The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority’s Mumbai Board is set to consider cancelling 1,051 flats allotted to mill worker-heirs who did not come forward to take possession of homes at Kon in Panvel, potentially opening the units to beneficiaries on the waiting list.
The Mumbai Board had drawn a lottery in 2016 for 2,417 homes in a Maharashtra Metropolitan Region Development Authority rental housing project at Kon, Panvel. Possession of the homes for eligible winners began in 2024. So far, 1,251 winners have taken possession, while the process for handing over homes to about 80 more beneficiaries is under way.
However, 1,086 winners had not taken steps to complete the possession process. The reasons included failure to submit required documents, non-payment of the housing amount and failure to begin the possession procedure even after submitting documents. Of these 1,086 winners, between 500 and 600 had not submitted the required documentation, according to the report.
The Mumbai Board had repeatedly given the mill worker-heirs opportunities to begin the process over the past year to 18 months. As a final opportunity, it published the list of 1,086 winners on 21 October and asked them to submit applications for possession between 26 October and 3 November.
The public notice stated that winners who did not apply or come forward to take possession within the deadline would be considered uninterested in taking the homes. Their allotments would then be cancelled and the flats offered to winners on the waiting list.
Only 35 of the 1,086 winners submitted applications by 3 November, indicating their readiness to proceed with possession. The remaining 1,051 did not come forward, Mumbai Board officials told the publication.
The unclaimed homes have remained vacant while applicants on the waiting list continue to await an opportunity to receive a flat. The issue is particularly significant because the availability of housing for mill workers in Mumbai remains limited. The state government has reserved 50% of the homes in MMRDA’s rental housing projects for mill workers.
Mumbai Board Chief Officer Milind Borikar had ordered the final opportunity for the 1,086 winners. Following the failure of most of the listed beneficiaries to respond, the board is expected to decide soon whether the flats should be cancelled and allotted to eligible people on the waiting list.
