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By:

Bhalchandra Chorghade

11 August 2025 at 7:24:18 pm

CIDCO struggles to find takers for its homes

Mumbai: The City and Industrial Development Corporation’s (CIDCO) latest housing scheme has exposed a recurring challenge for the planning authority: finding buyers for its large housing inventory despite its affordable-housing focus. The August 2026 scheme offered 4,793 homes in Taloja, Kharghar and Kalamboli and received 4,180 confirmed applications before bookings closed on September 3. While CIDCO described the response as strong, 613 homes—nearly 13 per cent of the inventory—had no...

CIDCO struggles to find takers for its homes

Mumbai: The City and Industrial Development Corporation’s (CIDCO) latest housing scheme has exposed a recurring challenge for the planning authority: finding buyers for its large housing inventory despite its affordable-housing focus. The August 2026 scheme offered 4,793 homes in Taloja, Kharghar and Kalamboli and received 4,180 confirmed applications before bookings closed on September 3. While CIDCO described the response as strong, 613 homes—nearly 13 per cent of the inventory—had no confirmed applicant. This follows earlier schemes with similar gaps. In January 2025, CIDCO’s ‘My Preferred Home’ scheme, offering around 26,000 homes across Navi Mumbai, attracted 1.36 lakh initial applications. However, only about 55,000 applicants paid the registration fee and around 22,000 deposited the required earnest money, leaving serious participation below the number of homes offered. A CAG-linked report on two CIDCO housing schemes in Kharghar found that, of 4,814 saleable tenements, allotment letters had been issued to 3,733 applicants and possession handed over to 3,317. Four years after the draw, 1,081 tenements remained unsold. CIDCO has also faced scrutiny over marketing expenditure. In 2023, reports questioned the appointment of private agencies to market and allot PMAY homes, stating that the agencies had received advances of more than Rs 100 crore before sales took place. CIDCO officials said external support was necessary given the scale of the programme. The scale of investment adds to the concern. CIDCO’s mass-housing programme envisaged 68,515 homes at an estimated cost of around Rs 15,300 crore. A 2024 report noted that thousands of completed homes were awaiting sale, locking up capital and increasing the authority’s financial burden. The latest homes are located in Taloja Sector 39, Kalamboli Bus Depot and Kharghar Bus Depot. Taloja accounts for 4,229 homes, followed by 257 in Kalamboli and 293 in Kharghar. Indicative prices range from around Rs 23.50 lakh in Taloja to Rs 37.70 lakh in Kalamboli and Rs 43.50 lakh in Kharghar. The figures point to a possible mismatch between what CIDCO considers affordable and what its target buyers can finance. Industry experts have noted that EWS homes priced at Rs 25 lakh or more may be difficult for households within the prescribed income ceiling, particularly after registration, stamp duty, floor-rise charges and other costs. Location may also influence demand. Taloja has seen rapid development and improved connectivity, including metro access, but buyers continue to weigh its distance from established employment centres and social infrastructure, as well as commuting costs. CIDCO maintains that its housing programme meets a genuine need in Navi Mumbai. Ashwin Mudgal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, CIDCO, said, “The overwhelming response to the housing scheme reflects the aspirations of citizens to own a home in Navi Mumbai and their continued confidence in CIDCO’s planned development initiatives. CIDCO remains committed to providing affordable and quality housing opportunities in well-planned locations, enabling citizens to benefit from the region’s growing infrastructure and connectivity.” The authority has also highlighted the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) subsidy, under which eligible beneficiaries can receive Rs 2.5 lakh, subject to applicable guidelines and eligibility criteria. However, the repeated unsold inventory suggests that CIDCO’s challenge extends beyond construction. Pricing, apartment configurations, location, payment flexibility and connectivity may need to be reassessed before further public resources are committed.

New Frontlines of Tradition and Change

Updated: Nov 7, 2024

Frontlines

The Buldhana and Akola Assembly constituencies in Maharashtra’s Western Vidarbha, traditionally bastions of the ruling Shiv Sena and the BJP, could now see new battles in the upcoming Assembly election.


The November polls promise to test the resilience of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) under Prakash Ambedkar in Akola, and the influence of caste and communal dynamics in these economically struggling districts. Though Akola has been a BJP bastion, Prime Minister is set to hold one of the first rallies (November 9) in this poll here, indicating the saffron party needs heavyweight support in the district.

Frontlines

Akola has been a BJP stronghold since 2004 with the party’s ideological base shaped by the early days of the Ram Mandir movement. The recent Lok Sabha poll showed the ruling party navigate the choppy waters by replacing their longtime leader in Akola, Sanjay Dhotre, with his son and thus avert a potential electoral setback.


In Buldhana, the undivided Shiv Sena has held sway since the 1990s by riding on the appeal of the late Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s firebrand oratory that captivated the Bahujan and OBC youth, wowing them away from the Congress. However, the district has also historically been a challenging place for women candidates within Shiv Sena ranks.


After the 2022 split in the Sena ranks, this year, Uddhav Thackeray’s opposition Sena (UBT) faction is breaking tradition by nominating Jayashree Shelke, a former Congress leader, as the MVA candidate for the Buldhana Assembly seat.


This marks the first time the Sena (divided or otherwise) has fielded a woman candidate in a major election here. Shelke’s candidacy signifies an attempt to both reach disenchanted Congress supporters and potentially set a historic milestone as the district’s first female MLA, should she succeed.

Yet her road to victory is far from smooth. She faces Sanjay Gaikwad of the rival Shiv Sena, a local figure whose record of controversial statements reflects the abrasive brand of Shiv Sena politics that has resonated with a segment of Buldhana’s electorate.


Meanwhile, the VBA, under Ambedkar’s leadership, continues to exert a disruptive influence across constituencies in Akola, where Ambedkar had been an MP in past decades. Though the VBA came a cropper in the 2024 Lok Sabha, with its vote share drastically plummeting, it still retains the capacity to queer the pitch.


In the 2019 Assembly elections, the VBA’s alliance with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) splintered votes across a number of seats, denying the Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena alliance (the MVA) several victories in key constituencies. In this year’s Lok Sabha election, the VBA failed to repeat its act. And yet, it cut into the opposition MVA’s votes in the Akola and Buldhana Lok Sabha seats, where the votes polled by the VBA’s candidates sealed the fates of the MVA contestants.


Ambedkar, recovering from recent health issues, has claimed that the OBCs – traditionally BJP’s core base in the state – will not vote saffron; his proclamations come amid his efforts to stitch a coalition of OBCs, SCs and STs. Yet, the strength of the VBA’s grassroots support will determine in this election whether the party will retain its status as a spoiler or whether the time has come to write Ambedkar’s political obituary.

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