After conducting the draw of its biggest housing scheme till date — the DDA Housing Scheme 2014, the bigger challenge for the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) will be to hand over the flats in a liveable condition to the allottees.
In the past, the land agency has been under the scanner for giving possession of flats without providing basic facilities like water, power and sewer connection.
DDA Vice-Chairman Balvinder Kumar, however, said he has done his best to give the DDA an image makeover with this scheme and will provide all basic facilities in the flats before handing them over.
“I am satisfied. The draw has taken place, and now allotment and possession is left. It is a challenge too,” said Mr. Kumar, who added that he will personally visit all the sites to check that all the work — from power, water to sewers — is in place before the flats are handed over. He admitted that the DDA needs reforms in its functioning. In order to make the system corruption-free, he said, allotment and payments will be done online.
“The atmosphere is so difficult here. We have to work really hard. Only then things get delivered. It is very difficult. In order to check corruption we want to make the system file free. No file with clerk. That will check corruption,” he said.
He added that the DDA had floated a tender of Rs.12 crore for renewing old flats that were offered as part of the scheme.
“While we will be giving possession by January, 2015, I request people not to visit the old flats right now. We have issued a tender for renewing them and they will be ready by March, 2015. They will be as good as new. They are not in good state right now as they have been lying disused for years.”
The DDA has also created a corpus of Rs.300 crore for maintenance of flats in the housing scheme.
“This is the first time that the DDA has created such a corpus. We want to be sure that the usual problems of water, power and lift maintenance do not crop up this time,” said Mr. Kumar.
He also informed that barring 3,114 flats in Rohini and 2,140 flats in Siraspur, all flats will be handed over by January.
The DDA Housing Scheme 2014 is not only the biggest housing scheme till date, but also a first on many grounds. DDA Vice Chairman Balvinder Kumar shared the many firsts of this scheme:
In other firsts for the agency, it received 10,8095 applications; called the media to cover every stage of the scheme — from the launch to the draw; invited a High Court judge, an IIT Professor and an NIC official to conduct the draw. Earlier, senior bureaucrats and IT officials used to conduct the process
