Time stands nearly still for DDA’S plot allottees
NEW DELHI: In 1981, then 30-yearold Rakesh Khurana applied for a 90 square metre plot in the Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) Rohini Residential Scheme, that was part of the agency’s plan to develop the area as a residential hub. He was among the 80,000odd successful applicants who were to get a plot in the next five years.
Four decades later, Khurana, now in his 70s and has retired from a bank job, said the dream is all but over due to inordinate delays in allotment and lack of development in Sector 29, pocket D1, where he was allotted the plot in 2015.
Like Khurana, nearly 25,000 applicants were given plots in Sectors 29-37 in Rohini between 2014 and 2018, almost 33 years after the scheme was launched. But very few allottees have constructed houses over the years.
“There is no hospital or dispensary, local shopping complex, school etc nearby. They have erected poles but there are no streetlights,” said Raj Kumar Jain, 67, a chartered accountant, who took possession of his plot in Sector 30, pocket C1, in 2015.
Another issue the allottees, most of whom are in their mid-60s or 70s, are facing is the cumbersome process to convert their plot from leasehold to freehold.
Captain (retd) M S Uppal (76), who was allotted a plot in Sector 37 in 2018, said the plots were given on lease deed and to get complete ownership of the plot, allottees will have to get a freehold deed executed. For this, Uppal said, allottees have to construct a structure on the plot.
“We are senior citizens and it is not possible for us to get a room or two constructed there, especially now during the Covid-19 pandemic. We have requested the DDA to simplify the process by taking conversion charges for the freehold process. Some special provisions should be made for us,” said Uppal, who is the president of the Rohini Residential Scheme 1981 Association that was formed in 2015, and has over 500 members.
A senior DDA official said, “The freehold process has been streamlined and made online. We are making efforts to bring down the pendency. As for relaxing the norms for freehold process, no decision has been taken as yet.”
The scheme
The Rohini Residential Scheme was part of the DDA’S larger plan to develop Rohini as a sub-city. The DDA had close to 1.17 lakh plots in the area in 1981. The agency received 82,384 applications, of which 80,587 applicants were found to be eligible.
The plots were to be allotted within a period of five years. Till 1991, the DDA allotted 41,179 plots in various sectors. And between 1991 and 2002, just 1,248 people were allotted plots.
Rahul Gupta filed a PIL against the DDA in the Delhi high court in 2009, when allotment to over 25,000-odd applicants was still pending. Gupta said, “Earlier, very little information about what went wrong with the scheme and what DDA was doing about it was available in the public domain. I filed a lot of RTIS regarding the scheme. We gave several representations to the central government, DDA etc. When nothing happened, I decided to file a PIL.”
He added, “As DDA failed to fulfil their commitments made in the Delhi high court, I filed a PIL in the Supreme Court in 2012 demanding that developed plots be given to allottees, who have waited for nearly three decades.”
DDA officials said the development in sectors 34-37 could start only in 2016 due to legal disputes.
A K Jain, former planning commission at DDA, said, “It is a complex problem. The DDA received an unexpected number of applications for the scheme, as the cost of plots was less. DDA kept the scheme open ended and when it did try to close the scheme, it was challenged in the court. The DDA has done a lot to develop these sectors. Things will improve once people start moving in.”
Poor planning
Allottees say the development (or rather lack of it) in sectors 28-37 is an example of the agency’s poor planning.
“They are planning for the city’s development in the next two decades, but DDA couldn’t develop just a few sectors in the last four decades. My plot is in an area which was developed in the last few years. It’s condition is better than most other sectors but I still can’t live there as there is no basic infrastructure,” said Uppal, who lives in Noida, while referring to the Master Plan 2041.
Charanjit Singh, who was allotted a plot in Sector 28 in 2003, said, “Even today, very few houses have come up here. The situation has improved after the DDA constructed group housing complexes (with over 5,000 flats) here. But transportation is still a big issue. The nearest Metro station (Rithala) is almost 5-7 kms away.”
A DDA official said, “Basic civic work, such as sewer and water pipeline, road network, streetlights etc have been done in all the sectors. But people have not started construction in these areas. Once people start living in these sectors, we will improve the facilities.”