Roti, Kapda aur Makaan are the bare necessities of life and it was this need to have a roof of their own that attracted a large number of people to the DDA office on Monday.
Barely minutes after the scheme was launched at 9:30 a.m., had a long queue formed at the counter giving out application forms. Each person could buy two forms for Rs. 150 each. A couple of hours later, the DDA website crashed due to heavy online traffic as the forms were available for viewing on the website. Among those in the queue were also those who had applied for DDA flats several times but had never been lucky. Sixty-year-old Kashmiri Lal, a retired government employee, had come with his wife Gulshan (55) from R.K. Puram.
Waiting for their turn, they said they have been living in a rented accommodation for years now.
“We saw in the newspaper about this scheme and here we are. We hope to get lucky since there are many flats in the scheme,” they said.
Manjit Singh, a resident of Lajpat Nagar, said he wants just a one-room Janta flat. “Once we were successful in a DDA scheme and got a plot in Rohini. But the scheme was cancelled and we were given the offer of an alternative accommodation that never materialised.”
About the five-year lock-in period that the DDA has introduced, Mr. Singh said, “It is a very good thing. People like us who are desperate for a small house stand some chance.”
Pradeshi Rawat, a contractor, was busy going through the application form. Tired of living as a tenant for 40 years now in Delhi, he says, “Only those in need should get a house. In fact, this lock-in period should have been for 10 years because these property dealers would not mind waiting for five years. The DDA should check all sorts of frauds.”
In the queue was an elderly man with a urinary catheter. Vikram Jaikumar, a 30-year-old executive with a multinational company, was also in the queue and hoped the scheme does not go like previous schemes.“There is always some tension associated with the DDA schemes. They end up in courts with so many frauds. Also, most of the flats in this scheme are LIG flats. That is a drawback for me,” he said.
However, there are people like 35-year-old Maninder Singh, who feel even an LIG flat would be sufficient.
Maninder Singh, who lives with his family in Karbala, says, “Any house which we can call our own is good. I suffer from mental retardation. My parents gave me special education so that I could lead a normal life. I went to special schools and now I hope we can have our own house.”
