Reacting swiftly to the political brouhaha over allotment of public rental flats to migrants, the state government had decided to make domicile a compulsory eligibility criterion in the new rental housing project.

Senior state government officials said on Thursday that the government would immediately issue orders allowing only those who have resided in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) for the last 15 years to avail a rental home under the scheme. Until now the policy did not bar migrants from applying and only said that domiciled residents would be given preference, a plan that was vehemently opposed by the Shiv Sena which termed it a move to separate Mumbai from the state.

Sources said the new orders will be issued despite the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which is executing the rental housing project, opposing any such change in the policy at the state cabinet meeting on Thursday. When the rental housing project was announced, its stated aim was to provide an alternative accommodation to migrants who are unable to afford a home in the city and would otherwise stay in slums.

Both state government and MMRDA officials conceded that the new amendment will defeat the very purpose of the policy and has termed it a pre-assembly election political plank.

“It is ridiculous to make domicile mandatory for a scheme that is meant for slum prevention. The whole argument that this will lead to separating Mumbai from the state doesn’t hold true as every rental housing project is coming up in MMR areas outside Mumbai,” said a senior official involved with the implementation of the policy. He also pointed out the absurdity of the fact that under the slum rehabilitation scheme anyone who has stayed in a shanty in Mumbai for more than nine years can get a free 269 sq ft house but someone who has stayed in the same slum for anything less than 15 years won’t now be eligible to rent a home.

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