25,040 get their dream house in DDA lucky draw

Delhi/NCR
About 20 lakh people began to watch the live webcast of the draw of DDA’s 2014 housing scheme at 12.30pm on November 25. By the end of the draw at 2pm, one-and-a-half hours later, that number had swelled to 38 lakh. To check out the popularity of the draw, one could compare this number with IRCTC site visitors during the two-hour Tatkal window during peak festive season—that figure is 12 lakh.

DDA’s 2014 housing scheme has been unique in several ways. With 25,040 flats it has been DDA’s biggest offering to date for which it received the maximum number of applications—10,08,985. There were a few glitches since the scheme was announced on September 1—repeated delays in reconciliation of applicant data, postponement of date of draw, etc.—but the draw itself was held in the shortest time, both in terms of the process as well as time elapsed since scheme launch.

On completion of the draw, DDA vice-chairperson Balvinder Kumar said that handover of flats would begin from January 2015. “For this housing scheme, we will do away with the old process which caused delays and opportunity for fraud. A new, web-based system, which will increase transparency in our operations, will be put in place,” Kumar said.

This system will include handing over a username and password to successful applicants who will be able to log in to the Authority’s website to check status of possession of their flats. A system will keep sending text alerts to allottees reminding them of instalments due. Payment will also be done online.

In fact, the only time successful allottees would have to interact with DDA officials will be at the documentation boot camp that DDA will organize sometime in the next 15 days. Here successful applicants will have to present their original documents and collect allotment letters. The next time they meet will be at the site of allotment where the actual handover would be done by a junior engineer after checking of online records.

However, not all anxieties have ended with the draw. For successful applicants to flats in Rohini and Siraspur, getting the apartment may include a legal tussle. Residents of Barwala have been agitating against DDA’s acquisition of land and have challenged it in various courts. A total of 6,000 flats—3,114 flats in Rohini and 2,840 flats in Siraspur—are involved. While Kumar has promised to hand over the flats by March-end, it’s the judiciary which has the final say in the matter.

Source:http://content.magicbricks.com/industry-news/delhi-ncr-real-estate-news/25040-get-their-dream-house-in-dda-lucky-draw/79037.html