DDA to offer 7,000 ‘rejected’ flats to public utility firms, govt departments

After an unsuccessful attempt to convince paramilitary forces to purchase its 7,000 unsold flats, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has decided to offer those dwelling units to public sector undertakings and government departments.

A senior DDA official privy to the development said the land owning agency would sell its flats, which were surrendered by allottees in its two previous housing schemes (2014 and 2017), in bulk to government agencies and departments that are ready to purchase at least 50 units.

Earlier, the DDA had written to paramilitary forces to use about 7, 000 flats after allottees in its two previous schemes abandoned these citing small size and alleged lack of basic amenities.

“Only CISF showed interest in our flats and purchased 750 units. We will now approach PSUs and government departments to procure those surrendered flats. We are planning to put one condition. They will have to seek minimum 50 flats,” he said.

“If these residential units remain unoccupied for long, it will incur huge loses to DDA as they require frequent monitoring and maintenance. With these surrendered flats, DDA’s capital worth Rs 1,200 crore is stuck,” the official said.

At least 7,000 allottees of DDA’s 2017 housing scheme returned their houses within 45 days of the draw of lot on November 30. These flats were among 8,500 units that were surrendered by the allottees in 2014 scheme. They were later refurbished and included in the latest scheme.

A large majority of returned flats are one-bedroom Lower Income Group (LIG) category units constructed in Rohini, Narela and Siraspur.

“Following our communication to paramilitary forces, only CISF has taken 750 flats, 250 are in Narela and remaining units are in Rohini. As the DDA doesn’t have provisions for selling residential units in bulk, it will bring a proposal before the board for approval,” added the official.

He said that if all the 7,000 ‘rejected’ flats don’t find takers again, then the remaining flats would be refurbished or modified to be included in future DDA schemes.“We are exploring options to modify unsold flats and make them spacious. For this, we will require approval from the concerned civic agencies because building plan will change,” said another DDA official.