CMYK

ND-ND

5THE HINDU SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 2015

NOIDA/DELHI

STATE

NEW DELHI: After launching itsbiggest ever housing schemein 2014, the Delhi Develop-ment of Authority (DDA) isnow getting ready to offer awhopping 40,000 flats of ul-tra-modern design in Delhiin December 2016. This be-sides offering comfortablehousing for senior citizensthrough a first-of-its kindscheme in the country.

However, the land agencyhas clearly ruled out anyhousing scheme this year.DDA Vice-Chairman Balvin-der Kumar on Friday saidsome 53,752 flats are beingdeveloped by the agency.

“The DDA is developingover 52,000 flats. Of these46,952 flats are under con-struction while 24,260 are atthe planning stage. We arehopeful that 40,000 flatswould be ready for our nexthousing scheme by Decem-ber 2016,” said Mr Kumar.

Mr. Kumar also sharedthat all these flats and anyother flats being constructedby the DDA will have ultramodern designs with highestspecifications. All buildingswill now be based on greenconcepts, will be energy effi-cient with zero discharge andprefab structures enablingspeedier and eco-friendlyconstructions.

On the senior citizenapartment scheme, the V-Csaid: “Work will start on2,000 flats, which we hopewill be ready to offer thisyear. A total of 800 of these

flats will be in Dwarka, therest in Rohini and in SouthDelhi. Five hectares of landhas already been identified inRohini.”

“Senior citizens want se-curity, medical facility. Wewill ensure they get it all. Wewill also talk to banks and seeif they can offer loans to se-nior citizens staying alone inDelhi on reverse mortgage sothat they can apply in ourscheme,” he said.

On the HousingScheme-2014, the DDA saidit will start giving allotment-cum-possession letter onSaturday. As many unsuc-cessful applicants have stillnot been refunded the regis-tration amount by the banks,the V-C said the agencies canbe blacklisted.

The V-C ruled out reportsthat many successful appli-cants have surrendered theflats in Rohini due to disputewith the Barwala villagers. Asof today, 150 people havesurrendered their flats underthe scheme.

“I reiterate that no flat inthe housing scheme is affect-ed by Barwala issue. No flatin the scheme is on the dis-puted land. People are sur-rendering flats because theyhad not visited the locationearlier. I will say urbaniza-tion of any area takes time.Also, people have issue withthe size of the flat too.”

Besides this, Mr. Kumarsaid new farmhouse regula-tions will be out in twomonths providing regulari-sation of excess built up area.

A whopping 40,000 flats to be ready by December 2016

Akanksha Jain

DDA TO OFFER ULTRA-MODERN FLATS, HOUSING FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

NEW DELHI: The DDA on Fri-day said the guidelines forregulation of land poolingpolicy (LPP) are expected tobe notified in 10-15 days.This will help harness pri-vate potential in land as-sembly and infrastructuredevelopment on the conceptof smart city and shift DDA’srole to that of a facilitator.

DDA Vice-Chairman Bal-vinder Kumar said the gui-delines for the policy havebeen sent to the Ministry ofUrban Development and areexpected to be notified in10-15 days.

“We hope right after elec-tions, we will be able to an-nounce the land poolingpolicy. The DDA will be de-veloping land through pri-vate participation,” he said.

With the announcementof LPP, the DDA will playthe role of a facilitator andlevy external developmentcharges only on the landcomponent.

The DDA will also act asnodal agency for providingbasic agencies for availabil-ity of water, sewerage,drainage and power supply.

It said efforts will be madefor setting up a single win-dow system for grant of de-velopment licence, approvalof layout and building plans.

The status of land whichwill become available forland pooling will be upload-ed on the DDA website.

Mr. Kumar said certain

issues on the policy pendingconsideration of Delhi gov-ernment are exemption ofstamp duty on surrender ofland from developer entityto the DDA and vice-versa;de-notification of villagewhich have been notifiedearlier for consolidation anddeclaration of 89 villagesfalling under land poolingpolicy as urban villages.

LPP has two categories –one between land of 2 to 20hectares where the return is48 per cent and the otherabove 20 hectares with a re-turn of 60 per cent.

In this, 53 per cent will beallowed for group housing, 5per cent for commercial and2 per cent for institutional.In every category, the FARhas been doubled underLPP.

The LPP gains impor-tance in view of the ever-growing need of affordablehousing.

Staff Reporter

Guidelines for land pooling policy soon The DDA will turnfacilitator anddevelop landthrough privateparticipation NEW DELHI: Having come un-

der criticism for not guard-ing its land fromencroachments, the DDAhas formed Quick ResponseTeams (QRT) for all zones.

These QRTs have 40 secu-rity guards in each team.

The team reports to thechief engineer of the zone.Any encroachment is imme-diately acted against.

The QRTs have been pro-vided with SUVs, androidphones with GPS facility,the DDA said Friday.

The DDA was recentlyasked by the standing com-mittee, which tabled its re-port in the Lok Sabha onworking of the land agency,to prevent encroachment ofits land and identify officialswhose negligence and cor-rupt practices have resultedin such encroachment.

It was noted that 1,402.16acre of DDA land is underencroachment while only402.428 acres of land couldbe reclaimed during the lastfive years.

Quick responseteams againstencroachments

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Dwarka, one ofthe most sought-after resi-dential sub-cities developedby the DDA in South-WestDelhi, will soon become a fi-nancial and residential hubwith even smarterinfrastructure.

Be it the Dwarka Express-way, high-class dwellingunits/ studio apartments forsenior citizens, e-buses andcycle sharing projects or asmart city, Dwarka is DDA’sfocus. If all goes well, it willsoon be transformed into adream destination in Delhi

DDA Vice-Chairman Bal-vinder Kumar on Fridayshared that one of the threesmart self-sustainable cities

will be coming up in Dwarka. A financial hub on the

lines of one in Mumbai isalso being planned in Dwar-ka Sector 10. “We have beenin talks with the commerceand banking ministry. Ifthey declare the identified

area as a bounded area, wecan invite financial institu-tions of international level.

The DDA is also con-structing 2,000 apartmentsfor senior citizens in Delhi,800 of which will be inDwarka.

Besides this, certain ma-jor projects to be taken upthis year are construction ofa diplomatic enclave and so-cio-cultural centre.

It will also introduce e-buses and cycle sharing pro-jects in Dwarka in keeping

with transit-orienteddevelopment.

The Dwarka Expresswaywill connect Dwarka to Gur-gaon, thereby increasing cir-culation space, smooth flowof traffic and fasterconnectivity.

Dwarka could be your next dream destination Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: On plans ofbuilding smart cities, theDDA was questioned how itwould do that consideringwater shortage in the Capital.The authority on Friday saidevery effort will be made for

optimum utilisation of water.DDA Vice-ChairmanBalvinder Kumar said: “Wewill ensure that no drop ofwater is wasted and there isoptimum utilisation andefficient recycling,” he said.

The DDA is planning todevelop three smart cities –

on extension of Dwarka,Rohini and Narela withuninterrupted power andwater supply and wi-ficonnectivity.

The DDA will also bedeveloping a lake citycomplex at Mayur Vihar withrejuvenation of Sanjay Lake.

The integrated commercialand housing project will bebrought on 25 acres of DDAland with a metro station atthe centre of all development.

The complex will becomplete with shoppingcentre, hotels, sports club,hostel and food courts.

“No drop of water will be wasted in smart cities” Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Laying all spec-ulations to rest of formerAam Aadmi Party leader Sa-zia Ilmi making a come-back, the party namedPramila Tokas as its candi-date from the R.K. PuramAssembly constituencyfrom where Ms. Ilmi lost byonly a few hundred voteslast year.

The party on Friday re-leased names of eight can-didates for the upcomingAssembly elections, thusannouncing faces for all the70 Assembly seats. The listincludes names of Pankaj

Pushkar (Timarpur) – re-placing former party MLAHarsh Khanna, who optedout this time round.

Other names in the listinclude Sarita Singh (Roh-tash Nagar), Haji Yunus(Mustafabad), Ch. Goverd-han Singh (Mehrauli), AjayDutt (Ambedkar Nagar),Suresh Bhardwaj (Wazir-pur) and Pawan Sharma(Adarsh Nagar).

Staff Reporter

AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal (right) with partyleader Manish Sisodia at a press conference in NewDelhi on Friday. PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

AAP announces final list for Assembly polls

Pramila Tokas to beAAP candidate fromR.K. Puram

NEW DELHI: Making another ad-dition to the Aam Aadmi Par-ty’s fund raising initiatives, itsconvener Arvind Kejriwal haslaunched the social media dri-ven ‘I Fund Honest PartyChallenge’.

The campaign is on the linesof popular charity chain ALSIce Bucket Challenge whichworks like a chain reaction.One has to accept a challengeof performing a task and nomi-nate more members and throwthem a challenge.

Mr. Kejriwal kicked off thecampaign on Friday by himselfdonating Rs.10,000 to the par-ty and nominating 11 others.The list includes industrialistRajiv Bajaj, actor and partyleader Gul Panag, businessmanSubhash Khandelwal, VipinMittal, besides family mem-bers and close aides.

Two NRIs Amit Agarwal andMunish Raizada also feature inthe list. Many among thosenominated accepted the chal-lenge as the day progressed.

Ms. Panag, for instance, do-nated a sum of Rs.15,000. Thiswas announced by Mr. Kejri-wal on Twitter.

Earlier, the Prime Ministertoo had done something simi-lar under the Swachh BharatAbhiyan where he nominatedothers to take up a cleanlinessdrive.

On being asked if Mr. Modiinspired him, the former DelhiChief Minister said: “This is aSwachh Rajneeti Abhiyan(clean politics campaign). In-dia will not become clean until‘clean’ funding comes into pol-itics,” he said.

He added that those who re-ceived donations from big cor-porate houses would serve theinterest of those funding them.“We are seeking money fromthe common man and willwork for his interest,” said Mr.Kejriwal.

The hashtag #iFundHonest-Party which the AAP has cre-ated for the purpose was thirdon the Twitter trending list till10-30 p.m. And that onlinesupport translated into actualdonations with Rs.21 lakh com-ing to the party in the day.

Kejriwal launches

party’s fund

raising challenge

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: There is a shortageof Urdu teachers in Delhi gov-ernment schools even as a req-uisition in this connection hasbeen sent to the Delhi Sub-ordinate Service SelectionBoard and the process of ap-pointments is under way.

The Delhi Government’sDirectorate of Education in-formed the Delhi High Courtthrough an affidavit recentlythat an additional require-ment of 152 posts of trainedgraduate teachers in Urdu hadbeen assessed and the processfor creation and filling up ofposts had started.

The affidavit was filed be-fore a Division Bench com-prising Chief Justice G. Rohiniand Justice R.S. Endlaw,which was hearing a public in-terest writ petition moved by anon-government organisa-tion, Shiksha Seva Samiti, andsome other societies.

The DoE said most of theuniversities in the country didnot have Urdu as a medium ofinstruction at the graduationlevel in any discipline, whichhad led to non-availability oftrained graduate teachers inUrdu.

“Urdu teachers under theSarva Shiksha Abhiyan are al-so appointed every year oncontract basis to overcomeshortage of teachers,” said theaffidavit.

The DoE had deployedteachers from Urdu Academyin Urdu medium schools toteach subjects such as mathe-matics, science and social sci-ence in Urdu medium, statedthe affidavit, adding that therewere 228 government schoolsunder the DoE in which Urduwas being taught as alanguage.

In addition to this, 21 gov-ernment schools under theDoE have Urdu as the mediumof instruction. The writ pet-ition has sought directions forappointment of Urdu teacherslike that of teachers in othersubjects, filling up of all va-cancies and reopening of Urduschools which have beenclosed down. Counsel Mush-taq Ahmad represents the pet-itioners in the case.

Shortage ofUrdu teachersin Delhi, HighCourt told

Mohammed Iqbal

All new buildings will be based on green concepts.PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY