Delhi Development Authority to launch 5,000 new houses under housing for all scheme.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is planning to launch 5,000 new houses in 2020 as part of its initiative to provide affordable housing to all. Though, the move comes at a time when over 20,000 owners surrendered their flats oversize and location within a six-year period.

“DDA is set to launch 5,000 new apartments by June this year. They intend to get this completed by June,” a Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs official said on terms of anonymity. Officials who didn’t want to be identified said the majority of these flats were 2 BHK or less.

But, it’s an exception. Of the nearly 8,000 flats allotted by DDA in 2019, 4,000 were surrendered. At least 7,000 DDA 2017 scheme allottees had returned flats within 45 days of the draw of lot. In 2014 the DDA got more than 12,000 such applications.

In response to a question in July last year in Lok Sabha, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the DDA’s housing scheme applicants surrendered their flats after allocation concerns about the size and location of their houses. Most of these houses are in places like Narela, Siraspur and Sector 4 in Rohini.

Ashutosh Kumar, a resident of Vasant Kunj in South Delhi said, “I had surrendered my apartment last year. It was situated in Narela. The place was more of a problem than the size. It is made in an area without sufficient connectivity, with hardly any public transportation. Schools are far from it, too.”

DDA withdraws those flats from the housing scheme canopy after a pre-decided time. Later, the flats are classified under four categories, High-income group (HIG) flats, with three bedrooms, Medium-income group (MIG) flats with two bedrooms and Lower-income group (LIG) flats, with one bedroom. There are also economically weaker section flats (EWS) available.

The Centre’s emphasis on housing can be assessed from the fact that Union Budget 2020 saw the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs outlay hit Rs 50,039.90 crore, a rise of almost 18.39% from the revised estimate of Rs 42,266.72 crore for 2019-2020.