DDA housing scheme 2017: Lack of facilities, overpricing tarnishes flats on offer

Most of the 12,072 flats on offer under the Delhi Development Authority’s housing scheme 2017 lack basic civic amenities, found a ground study by Hindustan Times.

All flats that are being sold under the DDA Aawasiya Yojana, which aims to provide affordable housing to people, are flats that were either surrendered in 2014 or were not put up for sale due to court cases or mutation problems.

HT visited places where most flats were surrendered in 2014 and found basic civic amenities still lacking which may make it difficult for DDA to sell the flats.

The high-income group (HIG) flats in Vasant Kunj and Jasola, however, are likely to be the most sought-after.

Twenty HIG flats priced between ₹58 lakh and ₹93 lakh in Vasant Kunj have all the facilities, including parking. About 12 LIG flats in Jasola Vihar could be an ideal location for Metro travellers as the upcoming Jasola Sector 18 Metro station will be within a kilometre radius.

In July, HT visited areas where 4,349 flats were surrendered out of 11,000 and found roads dug up at several places.

“There is no local market and people have to travel at least five kilometre to buy commodities of daily need,” said Sanjay Kumar, president of the resident welfare association of Sector 35.

Worse, women could be seen carrying potable water in vessels from The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) tankers. The tankers also fill water in in-house tanks for daily chores such as cleaning and washing. The DJB pipeline hasn’t reached the area.

A senior DDA official said that work on laying water and sewer pipelines has been started and will be completed before the handing over the keys to buyers.

DDA vice-chairman Udai Pratap Singh said that the work will be expedited in the area and completed by the end of the year. “The water pipelines will also reach houses by then,” said Singh.

In Narela, 331 out of 384 flats of a single apartment were surrendered as the residents felt that it was overpriced and found commuting difficult. The DDA has retained the price at ₹70.63 lakh.

Sanjeet Trivedi, who lives in one of the flats, said: “The apartment has all the facilities, including eight lifts. There is underground parking space for over 1,000 cars. But the reason most buyers turned away last year was slump in the real estate market making the flats overpriced.”

The caretaker of the apartment said presently only two families live in the apartment.

There is a DDA market nearby but the condition of the approach road is very bad. Inside, however, the society has three sprawling parks.

DDA, is hopeful that by not increasing the prices this year and with Metro phase-4 reaching the area, it will be able to sell the flats.

The chances of getting a HIG flats is less as most people would be eyeing this segment but there are just 87 flats available.

The flats in Vasant Kunj pocket 5, 6, 7 and 8 are spread over 70 to 116 square metre.

Yogender Kumar, a resident of the area, said, “The real estate rates have declined recently otherwise rates here had touched up to ₹1.75 crore. DDA is selling it flats at about ₹90 lakh.”

Located around two-kilometre from Jasola Apollo Metro station and close to Lotus Temple and Jamia University, the three-bedroom flats in Pocket 9A of Jasola are the most expensive priced around ₹1 crore. The DDA society has separate parking facility for visitors, lift and all basic civic amenities in place.

There are 320 flats in this block out of which seven have been put up for sale. Four other such flats are in sector 8 spread over nearly 105 square metre.