More than 1.01 lakh applicants have been found eligible for rehabilitation housing under Mumbai’s mill workers’ housing scheme, while nearly 40,000 workers and heirs have yet to submit the documents required for scrutiny, according to figures cited by officials of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority’s Mumbai Board.
The Labour Department and MHADA have been conducting a special campaign to establish the eligibility of former mill workers and their heirs. The campaign has completed three years, but officials said a significant number of applicants have still not come forward with applications or supporting documents.
As of September 3, 2026, a total of 1,09,818 workers and heirs had submitted applications and documents from an estimated pool of around 1.5 lakh applicants. Of these, 1,01,433 applicants have been declared eligible, while decisions on 6,907 applications remain pending.
The number of applications and document submissions increased by only 691 between April and the end of August. The April figure was 1,09,127, indicating a slowdown in the response to the verification campaign despite repeated extensions to the deadline.
The state government had decided to provide housing to mill workers on mill land as part of a rehabilitation programme. Applications were submitted to MHADA in two phases, with around 1.5 lakh workers and heirs still waiting for homes. The government and MHADA are continuing to search for suitable land for the housing programme.
The decision to complete eligibility scrutiny before conducting housing lotteries was taken to allow homes to be handed over to eligible workers and heirs soon after the lotteries. Under the special campaign, the Labour Department and MHADA have been collecting documents from applicants to accelerate the process.
The government has adopted a flexible approach by allowing applications and documents to be submitted as workers come forward, officials said. The next steps involve completing scrutiny of pending applications and continuing the search for land for the rehabilitation housing programme.
