The repeat surrenders may finally force the Authority to give a serious thought to re-building these flats
Nearly 3,500 allottees of the Delhi Development Authority's (DDA) 2017 Housing Scheme have surrendered their newly allotted flats within 19 days of the draw of lots. The flats being returned are the small-sized LIG (low-income group) and Janta flats, which were originally offered by the Authority in its 2014 housing scheme.
The repeat surrenders may finally force the Authority to give a serious thought to re-building these flats.
The houses are being rejected for the same reason — they are too small and lack basic facilities. This despite the fact that this time the Authority had allowed buyers to visit the flats before applying for one. "I did not know about this provision and could not imagine that LIG houses could be the size of a storehouse. Even if it had all the facilities, this is not acceptable," said Sarita Sharma, one of the allottees, who got a flat in Rohini's Sector 35.
The DDA had conducted a draw of lots for 12,617 houses on November 30. Of these 12,617 houses on offer, over 11,000 were those LIG flats that were returned under the 2014 housing scheme.
Of the total flats allotted, 11,757 were LIG, 403 were MIG (middle-income group), 372 were Janta flats (one-bedroom), and 85 were HIG (high-income group) flats. The LIG flats were spread across Rohini, Siraspur, and Narela.
Meanwhile, DDA housing commissioner J P Aggarwal said: "Some of the allottees have surrendered the flats because they were too small. The provision is that allottees can return flats till 15 days after the issue of demand-cum-allotment letters. We will see till that time and then put the names on waiting list."
If the flats are still not taken up, DDA might consult its architects to enhance the size of these houses, Aggarwal said. "We may consult the architects as to what can be done about these flats. May be two flats could be merged. This is, however, too far-fetched at this point of time," he said.
Earlier, residents of Rohini Sector 34 and 35 and Narela G-8 had alleged that their LIG flats, measuring 32 square meters in area were the same size as those EWS flats that were being offered by the Authority to rehabilitate residents of Kathputli Colony, a slum cluster housing puppeteers in west Delhi.
2017 HOUSING SCHEME
Total houses allotted: 12,617
LIG: 11,757
MIG: 403
Janta: 372
HIG: 85
Total eligible applicants: 46,080
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