On Friday, Day Five of the DDA mega housing scheme 2014, most of the 13 empanelled banks ran out of application forms, forcing people to queue up at the DDA office here. Online access to the forms, too, failed to catch up with the quick sale at various counters.
On reasons for banks running out of application forms, the DDA said the banks had assessed their requirement really low and believed that customers will opt for online forms instead. It added that this “initial crunch” will ease out soon.
Meanwhile, nearly two lakh forms have been sold in five days. More counters have been created at the DDA office for sale of forms. While on September 1, each person was sold only two forms, now there is no bar and people could be seen buying as many as 10 forms for themselves and their family members.
Eye surgeon Piyush Ramawat waited in the queue at the DDA office at Vikas Sadan to purchase forms after returning empty-handed from three banks.
“I visited Axis Bank, HDFC and the ICICI Bank. None of them had the forms. So, here I am,” said Dr. Ramawat, who lives at a rented accommodation in Central Delhi.
On some flats in Rohini being constructed at underdeveloped locations, he said: “For me getting a cheaper flat is Delhi is much more important than the area.”
He was accompanied by a surgeon friend, who also took out the time to come to the DDA office as banks close to his residence had run out of application forms.
DDA Principal Commissioner (Housing) T. Srinidhi said: “The scheme was launched on September 1 and runs for over 40 days. We printed forms on the basis of the banks’ assessment of their requirement. Only one of the 13 banks assessed its requirement at two lakh forms; the rest opted for just one lakh forms or even less, as all these 13 banks have nearly 200 branches in Delhi.”
“Notwithstanding this, we have pushed up printing of forms. These will be delivered in the shortest possible time — by the beginning of next week,” he assured.
Sixty-year-old B.L. Gupta, who has been trying to get the forms from various banks for the past three days, said “it was such a hassle”.
Rajbeer, who works at the Horticulture Department in the DDA, and Dharam Singh, who stood before Mr. Gupta in the queue at the DDA office, said they, too, had visited various banks at ITO, Dwarka and Janakpuri, but in vain.
The inability to get a form from SBI, HDFC and ICICI banks was the reason that forced 49-year-old Vimla Sharma from West Vinod Nagar to stand in the queue at the DDA office.
Mr. Srinidhi said the banks thought that most people will download the forms from their website, but that did not happen. “They should have asked their customers to download the forms online. But the banks have not been able to market the online booking. Now they are pushing us for more forms.”
He, however, said that it has only been five days since the scheme was launched.
“We still have 35 more days to go. It is all a question of initial crunch. It will even out soon.”
The 13 empanelled banks are Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Syndicate Bank, Union Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IDBI Bank, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank.
Following massive traffic on Day 1, the DDA removed the form from its website, which said the same could be downloaded from the websites of the 13 banks.
