The Pune Housing and Area Development Board (MHADA) is working to conduct the lottery for 4,250 houses within the next four to five days, reported Maharashtra Times. MHADA Chairperson Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil stated that if the election code of conduct is implemented during this period, they will seek necessary permission before announcing the lottery. Both Deputy Chief Ministers are expected to be invited for the draw. A total of 2.15 lakh applications have been received, and verification is currently underway. He clarified that the ongoing scrutiny of documents has caused the delay in conducting the lottery.
Applications and deposit collections began on September 11, with the initial deadline set for October 31. Due to applicants requiring additional time to submit documents and other reasons, the deadline was extended twice, eventually being pushed to November 30. MHADA received 2,15,847 applications in total. Each applicant paid a fee of ₹708 and a deposit of ₹20,000. Accordingly, MHADA collected ₹446,97,59,676. The huge number of applications also contributed to the delay in finalising the draw.
As per the earlier schedule, the housing lottery was supposed to take place on December 11. However, due to the unusually high number of applications, verification is taking longer than expected. Applications submitted under various reservation categories are being examined by the respective departments. This scrutiny will continue until Saturday. Following that, MHADA plans to conduct the draw on either December 16 or 17, Adhalrao added. He mentioned that if the election code of conduct is enforced next week due to upcoming Zilla Parishad and Municipal Corporation elections, the process may face hurdles, but permission will be sought from the State Election Commission since the lottery is a matter of public interest.