Letters: Affordable housing

With reference to “Unsold realty inventory may be taxed” (November 28), if traders hoard essential commodities, they face action from authorities. The prices of flats are astronomical, out of reach for the middle-class. How the builders are managing unsold inventory needs to be investigated. How much money banks have lent to the real estate industry needs to be discovered. Unsold inventory is in contrast to the economic theory of demand and supply. There is a big demand for housing as well as supply, but buyers are not able to buy. This is strange. Will the move to tax unsold inventory result in price fall? It should. It is a welcome move.

For affordable housing, the government should provide land to people and also help in construction — be it redevelopment, or new construction. The public sector (National Building Construction Corporation) should also be roped in. The situation is alarming. Because if people cannot afford flats, it affects the entire economy in terms of the quality of manpower as people have to commute long distance to go to work. Gone are the days when even a mill worker could buy a plot of land in Thane. There is also the menace of corrupt managing committees in cooperative housing societies.

Deendayal M Lulla   Mumbai

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