After much delay, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), on Tuesday, successfully held the computerised draw of lots for its Housing Scheme 2014. While almost everyone rued their luck at missing out in the lottery owing to the slim probability, the 25,034 successful applicants were ecstatic after they found their names on the list. More than 10 lakh applicants were in fray for over 25,000 flats across various categories, ranging from Rs7 lakh to Rs1.2 crore.
The draw of lots began at around 12 noon and was completed by 2 pm. “The draw of lots was wrapped up in record time of 40 days despite receiving 10,08,985 applications, the highest in DDA history,” said Balvinder Kumar, vice chairman, DDA.
The draw was held under the supervision of retired Delhi High Court judge Manju Goel, National Informatics Centre DG Mahesh Chandra and IIT-Delhi professor Anshul Kumar. The entire draw was also webcast live on the Internet on a dedicated URl www.ddadrawlive.in.
“DDA will be holding a camp at its headquarters after 15 days where the verification of the documents of successful applicants will be done. General applicants may be handed over the demand-cum- allotment letter thereafter and the reserved category applicants will be handed over the same after authentication of their documents,”
added Kumar. The DDA vice chairman added, “Each allottee shall be provided with an ID and password through which he will be able to track the status (of the allotment process) online. Allottees will also be notified through SMS and email alerts about their instalments.” The draw, which was held at the DDA headquarters, was initiated with two seed numbers — 0355299 for applicants and 03695 for flats. These seed numbers were fed as reference into the fully computerised and automated system for the draw. Earlier, randomisation of data in the system began around 9 am.
Amit Roy, who landed a Janta flat at New Kondli, was elated upon finding his name in the list of successful applicants. “I am very happy now that I will have my own roof over my head as I was staying in a rented apartment for the last six years. I had also applied for the DDA Housing Scheme in 2010, but luck didn’t favour me that time,” said Roy, a private sector executive.
As the draw was being processed, some applicants, who were apparently unhappy with the delay, tried to force their way into the conference room where the lottery was being held. However, police present at the venue soon managed to control the situation. A DDA spokesperson said, “The protesters were unhappy that the whole format for the draw was computerised. They wanted it done in the conventional style of pulling chits out of a box.”
DDA had initially set the tentative date for the draw as November 5, but postponed it to November 17. However, it failed to hold the draw on November 17 after trial runs were unable to wrap up the whole process within two hours.
The flagship scheme offering 25,040 flats in various categories spread across the national capital saw DDA receiving a whopping 10,08,985 applications, which is the highest in the history of the agency.