79% of returned DDA flats located in outer Delhi’s Narela: Union minister | Latest News Delhi - Hindustan Times
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79% of returned DDA flats located in outer Delhi’s Narela: Union minister

Dec 07, 2021 05:47 AM IST

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs Kaushal Kishore also said that the land-owning agency has put on sale 56,932 flats since 2014, of which “15,500 flats have been returned/surrendered”

About 79% of the total flats returned by allottees of the past four Delhi Development Authority (DDA) housing schemes are located in north Delhi’s Narela.

One of the three planned sub-cities in the national capital, Narela lacks essential services like transport and water supply. (Amal KS/HT Archive)
One of the three planned sub-cities in the national capital, Narela lacks essential services like transport and water supply. (Amal KS/HT Archive)

In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs Kaushal Kishore also said that the land-owning agency has put on sale 56,932 flats since 2014.

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“…about 15,500 flats have been returned/surrendered and have remained unsold so far. 79% of total surrendered (returned) flats are located in newly developed Narela sub-city,” the junior minister said.

One of the three planned sub-cities in the national capital, the area, where the DDA has planned large scale housing projects, lacks essential services like transport and water supply.

The junior minister informed the upper house of Parliament that the flats were returned as: they are located in remote locations; the cost of the flats is high and size small; and the area has no Metro connectivity.

“In order to improve the saleability of these flats, DDA has undertaken various remedial measures including improvement of transport infrastructure, construction of Urban Extension Road-II (UER-II), permitting amalgamation of flats, allotment on first-cum-first-serve basis and some concession to the purchasers,” the minister informed.

According to a senior DDA official, the land-owning agency will come out with a new housing scheme to dispose of these 15,500 flats. “The housing scheme was approved in the authority meeting, chaired by Delhi lieutenant governor, recently. We will launch the scheme by December end,” said the official.

In a bid to ensure that these flats are sold out, the DDA has decided that the returned flats will be sold at old rates.

A majority of the flats are in the Lower Income Group and Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category and a bulk of the flats were returned by allottees of the 2017 and 2019 scheme, said a DDA official requesting anonymity.

Past schemes

Until 2010, the DDA has always received an overwhelming response to its housing schemes. In 2010, over 16,000 flats, located in Dwarka, Narela, Rohini and Mukherjee Nagar, among others, were put on sale for which DDA received close to seven lakh applications.

In 2014, the land-owning agency had put on sale over 25,000 flats, mostly in Lower Income Group category located in Narela and Rohini. The DDA received close to a million applications for these flats. But due to reasons including the small size of the flats, its location and lack of transport connectivity, close to 12,000 were returned by allottees mostly in Narela.

Since then, DDA has launched three housing schemes and relaxed the norms allowing amalgamation of flats, but it has not been able to generate a good response.

In 2019, DDA launched a housing scheme with close to 18,000 flats (mostly for LIG and EWS categories). But due to tepid response, it had put only 10,294 flats on sale of which it could sell 8,438. Even then, nearly 5,000 flats were returned by the allottees.

“We have now proposed a Metro corridor in the area for which funds will be given by the DDA. We are also trying to redevelop the area by making a proper plan for effective utilisation of vacant plots in the area to bring in more economic activity which will result in housing demand,” said a senior DDA official.

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