Over 3,000 allottees give up 1BHK DDA Narela flats

NEW DELHI: Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is finding it difficult to find takers for its flats in Narela, even after offering them multiple times.
In about a fortnight since DDA held the draw of lots for housing scheme 2019, more than 35% of the flats, all of which are one-bedroom ones, have been surrendered by the allottees.
In the draw of lots for the housing scheme held on July 23, total 8,438 flats were allotted but till August 6, 3,017 applicants have surrendered their flats.This is not the first housing scheme in which flats allotted in north Delhi's Narela have been surrendered by the allottees. Under the 2017 housing scheme, 4,711 allottees had surrendered the flats, mostly in Narela, within a fortnight of the draw of lots.
The authority's latest housing scheme had received a very lukewarm response to begin with. While there were nearly 18,000 flats on offer under the scheme, in the draw of lots only 8,438 flats were allotted.
The housing scheme, with 17,922 flats on offer, was launched on March 25 and remained open till June 10. The authority received 45,012 applications, but majority of these were for the 1,286 three-bedroom, two-bedroom and one-bedroom flats in Vasant Kunj. Even as majority of the flats were in Narela, only 5,000 applications were received for these, including two-bedroom ones. While 7,700 flats were offered for economically weaker sections, only 1,500 applications had come for these flats.
"There are not many takers for flats in Narela due to its location. It is far away from the heart of the city and also there is an acute shortage of public transport," a DDA official said.
"In earlier housing schemes, many allottees had complained about the small size of flats. That is why we didn't include any flats from the old inventory in the scheme. The new flats are spacious but still the response was not good," he said.