DDA housing scheme 2016 to be delayed, may roll out by December end

The Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) 2016 housing scheme, which was expected to rollout by Diwali, will be delayed by two months.

The scheme will now be launched around December end, said an official.

This year, the DDA is offering about 13,000 flats out of which nearly 350 are two bedroom Middle Income Group (MIG) flats while the rest are either Lower Income Group Flats (LIG) flats or janta flats.

The modalities of the scheme had to be decided in a meeting scheduled for September 23. A source said that the meeting, which was supposed to be held between DDA officials and lieutenant governor, was postponed to October 10 due to a bureaucratic reshuffle.

The then vice-chairman Arun Goel was transferred and IAS officer Udai Pratap Singh was appointed in his place.

“Some important time was lost due to the bureaucratic reshuffle and decisions on important matters are still to be taken. Even if DDA speeds up the process, it would not be able to rollout the scheme before December-end,” the official added.

Read: Good news: No hike in prices of DDA flats this year

The October 10 meeting was also postponed and the next date is yet to be decided. DDA spokesperson D Sarkar said, “The ‘authority meeting’ scheduled on October 10 was postponed. The next date of meeting is yet to be decided. We can comment on the exact date when the scheme will be launched only after the meeting is held.”

The DDA is yet to take final decision on several issues such as increase in registration fees, forfeiture of registration money and partnership with banks and these things will take at least couple of months, he added.

DDA is likely to increase the registration fee. Unlike the last housing scheme when people paid R 1 lakh as security deposit for registration, this year they will have to pay R 3 lakh for LIG flats and Rs 5 lakh for MIG flats.

To deter people from applying and then returning allotted flats, the agency might include the clause of forfeiture of registration money.

The agency is yet to finalise the deal with the banks that would partner with DDA in the scheme, he added.

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