I lived the initial 16 years of my life in Pydhonie, one of south Mumbai’s busiest locations, later moved to Andheri where I spent another decade and so, never thought that it would come to pass that I would have to commute daily to anything beyond the traditional Mumbai limits. Like most of the locals, I hated boarding any suburban trains heading to or coming from beyond Borivali. Nevertheless, after a disappointing failure in my bid to buy an “affordable” home within city limits in the Mhada lottery, I had no option but to head further north. And this is how I found myself living in Mira Road, an extended suburb, i.e the extension of the extension of this maximum city. In even more direct words, I went out of “Mumbai”.
Now having lived here for a couple of years, I decided again in 2011 to try my luck in the housing scheme, hoping to be lucky the second time round. As recommended, I got my application form filled by a fellow journalist, who is considered very lucky when it comes to filling these kinds of papers. As far as my memory serves me, in the last three years, all the applicants who’ve got forms filled by him were blessed with a home.
Another friend also requested me to fill her application for her with the accurate details so that it doesn’t get rejected during scrutiny. I did the honours. The D-day arrived. The friend won the 2-BHK jackpot. Meanwhile, I only kept striking off my application numbers, failing to be lucky enough the second time as well.
The event had almost come to an end, so I went out with two other friends to vent my frustration and curse the housing body, its officials and even the lottery software.
However, just then, I received a call from a Mhada official, asking me if I had applied for a home in Sion. My response was a joyful, “Why yes, I did. What happened?”
“I just saw your name on the screen, you have won. Come inside quickly,” she said. I was ecstatic. However, what I did not foresee were all kinds of soliciting calls that this “affordable” home would bring my way.
Weeks passed after I submitted the documents. Then one fine day, I received a call from an unknown number saying, “Hello, you had filled a Mhada form and even won. Did you receive the eligibility letter? Are there any issues in proving your eligibility? If you want, I can get things sorted out,” offered the caller, who was none other than one of the several brokers who are found walking freely in the offices of Mhada.
I asked him to meet me outside the Mhada office, but he immediately declined and that was the last I heard of him. Interestingly, he had called from a public phone.
Yet to get possession of the house, just last week, I received an update that it would be mine only by Diwali. But even before this can happen, another broker calls me up. “Do you want to sell your home? I am ready to pay you `20 lakh above the cost of the flat.” He even went ahead and played the Muslim card. “You will not find a single Muslim in that area. You should sell it, it’s a bad area for Muslims.” And this is where he lets the cat out of the bag, “We get the list of winners with their contact numbers from Mhada officials only. Between 12 pm to 4 pm, I am in the Mhada office daily. After you sell it to us, it is my responsibility to take care of the surprise checks. In fact, if after five years you don’t come for the change of owner name. I will get it done myself with the help of officials.”
Obviously, I haven’t disclosed to him that I am a journalist or else this man would vanish into thin air, the same way he came, but I am very sure of my response to his offer. There is no way I am giving up a home in the city to continue living in what is just a shadow of the Mumbai I know.
Bottomline: Winners of this year’s homes should keep in mind is that despite Mhada bosses going on about their crackdown on the brokers, you will still receive the soliciting calls. In the end, it is only the Mhada officials and their frontmen — the housing agents — who will fill their pockets with lakhs of rupees in black money. And it is your hard-earned money that they will slyly stake claim to your quest for the “affordable home”.