DDA's new scheme launch most likely on June 30, brochure ready

New Delhi: The Delhi Development Authority's much-awaited new housing scheme with 12,000 flats on offer is "almost certain" to roll out on June 30, officials said on Tuesday.

Top DDA officials said the brochure for the scheme was ready and all other modalities had been put in place.

"We are all set for the launch of the new scheme. As of now, June 30 as the date for its roll-out looks almost certain," a senior official said.

Logical constraints, from printing of brochures to linking with partnering banks, had been ironed out, he said.

"We have to ensure everything is in order before we make the scheme public. And, at this time, things do look in order," the official told PTI.

The urban body had set mid-June as the target date for the launch of the scheme, which was earlier slated to be announced by February.

But ancillary infrastructure work, such as building of connecting roads and installation of street lights, had stretched the deadline, he said.

"The scheme has also been linked to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana," the official said.

Out of the total number of flats, most of them in Rohini, Dwarka, Narela, Vasant Kunj and Jasola, 10,000 unoccupied flats were from a 2014 housing scheme, while 2,000 flats had been lying vacant.

Seeking to deter "unserious buyers" and check market speculation, the DDA this time has proposed multi-tiered penal measures.

"If a prospective buyer surrenders his application before the date of draws, no money will be deducted from his or her registration fee. If a buyer does so after the draw but before the issue of a demand letter, 25 per cent of the registration fee will be forfeited," another official had earlier said.

If the flat is surrendered within 90 days of the issue of the demand letter, 50 per cent of the fee would be cut.

"Beyond that time period, the entire registration fee will be forfeited," he said.

For the LIG (Lower Income Group) category, the registration fee will be Rs 1 lakh while for Middle Income Group and High Income Group flats, Rs 2 lakh will be charged.

The urban body has tied up with 10 banks for the sale of application forms and scheme-related transactions.

The banks are Axis Bank, Yes Bank, IDBI, Bank of Baroda, Central Bank, SBI, Kotak Mahindra, HDFC, ICICI and Canara Bank.

"People are free to visit the areas where the flats are being offered. We have also removed the lock-in period clause, as we realised this was also a factor in buyers surrendering flats. This is also to keep a check on those elements who do market speculation," he said.

Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, who is also the DDA chairman, had instructed senior officials to ensure that adequate public transport connectivity and other necessary basic infrastructure were put in place before the launch of the new scheme.

Baijal has already given his approval to the scheme.

Under the rules, a husband and a wife can apply for the scheme but if both get an allotment, one of them will have to give it up.

Sources said most of the flats were one-bedroom LIG flats from the last housing scheme.

"About 10,000 are LIG flats from the 2014 DDA scheme. Unlike the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) category last time, in this scheme there will be no such category," the official said.

Application forms will be available both online and offline, he said.

The DDA this time has planned to put the scheme online --for forms for application, refund and so on - to reduce long queues of flat buyers at its headquarters.

The 2014 scheme offered 25,040 flats across categories, with prices ranging between Rs 7 lakh and Rs 1.2 crore. The online response was so massive that the DDA's official website crashed soon after the launch.

The one-bedroom flats were offered in Dwarka, Rohini, Narela and Siraspur areas.