Mega housing scheme draw: DDA website attracts nearly 30L hits

As the much-awaited draw for the mega 'Housing Scheme 2014' concluded today, the website of Delhi Development Authority attracted close to 30 lakh hits halfway through the draw. "The website received close to 30 lakh hits by 1 PM.

halfway through the draw," a DDA spokesperson said. The scheme received as many as 10,08,985 applications against 25,040 available flats which effectively means that each flat had 40 applicants, and each applicant had a mere 2.5 per cent chance of successfully landing a flat.

In a first, to ensure transparency, the draw was webcast live on a separate dedicated website. The live webcast of the draw was not hosted on the home site of DDA to prevent it from crashing.

In spite of of being postponed twice, the draw was held within 40 days, which DDA claimed was the shortest time taken for any housing scheme draw so far. The draw was held under the supervision of retired Delhi HC Judge Manju Goel, National Informatics Centre DG Mahesh Chandra and IIT Delhi Professor Anshul Kumar, a break from the past when the jury used to be mostly composed of senior bureaucrats.