Quizzed about the Maharashtra Government’s feet-dragging on adopting the Housing Policy and repealing the Urban Land Ceiling (regulation) Act (ULCRA), Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh quietly passed the buck to the Opposition.

The first few days of the just-ended session of the Legislative Assembly saw issues suggested by the saffron combine being discussed. Repealing ULCRA and implementing the housing policy—both crucial for making affordable housing a reality in a city where 60 per cent of the population lives in slums—will now have to wait four months. Here’s what the delay means for the average Mumbaiite.

Admittedly, the repeal of ULCRA may not have an immediate impact on prices in Mumbai—sobering of prices will be quicker in the smaller townships, Mumbai’s satellite cities and the Tier II and Tier III cities.

“But there will be a psychological impact in Mumbai too,” says Mohan Deshmukh, president of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI). Price correction would depend on how much land supply increases and nobody is quite clear just how much developable land is to be freed.

In any case, areas where land is freed up will become more affordable—including central Mumbai, central suburbs Vikhroli, Kanjurmarg and western suburb Malad. But the biggest loss will be the protracted wait for increased transparency in the housing sector. “Today, builders are operating in Power of Attorney even after making full payments for a property. They can’t get clear title of the land,” says Deshmukh. “Repealing ULCRA means direct title of large tracts of land will be available to corporate developers, who can then undertake better planned township construction.”

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