September 22, 2025: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is preparing to put 186 apartments, developed under the Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR) 2034, on sale this Diwali through a lottery system. These “inclusive homes” are priced between Rs 63 lakh and Rs 1 crore and are designated for economically weaker sections (EWS) and low-income groups (LIG) with annual incomes below Rs 6 lakh and Rs 9 lakh, respectively, officials confirmed.
“This will be the first occasion when the civic body puts apartments under its inclusive housing policy on sale,” said an official from BMC’s estate department.
The inclusive housing clause, introduced in 2018 under Regulation 15 of DCPR 2034, requires developers to hand over 20% of homes in projects on plots larger than 4,000 square metres to the BMC. One-fifth of these homes are reserved for project-affected people (PAP), while the remainder is meant for EWS and LIG buyers.
The Maharashtra State Housing Policy, 2025, caps the maximum size for such homes at 322 sq ft for EWS and 645 sq ft for LIG. BMC first received inclusive homes in 2020 when 34 units in Kanjurmarg were handed over. Over the years, possession grew to 134 homes, of which 107 can be sold and 27 reserved for PAPs. Another 108 homes are expected within six months, of which 79 will be available for sale.
Housing expert Chandrashekar Prabhu argued the scheme fails the affordability test. “According to this criterion, homes meant for EWS and LIG buyers, earning less than Rs 6 lakh and Rs 9 lakh respectively, should have been priced at a maximum of Rs 30 lakh and Rs 45 lakh,” he said, adding that the builder-politician-bureaucrat nexus benefits most.
“There is no such thing as affordable housing in Mumbai, and the inclusive housing policy was never conceived to change that,” Prabhu added.
Source: Hindustan Times
