While lakhs of people having pinned hopes of owning a dream home in the national Capital on the Delhi Development Authority’s mega housing scheme, there are many who are thriving on this and minting money by selling DDA forms in the black market. Irked by the huge number of complaints from applicants on the issue, the housing agency on Thursday pulled up the empanelled banks in an emergency meeting convened by its top officials.
While the non-availability of forms in the bank branches has led to long queues at the housing agency’s headquarters Vikas Sadan, the same are also being sold at premium rates in the black market. Officials said that the form which usually costs Rs150 is being sold in black in a range of Rs300 to Rs500. People who are not able to get forms from authorised centres are now buying them illegally from shady black marketers who are reaping benefits. Till Friday, the DDA has sold 13.5 lakh forms through the various centres as well as the online process. It expects the total figure of forms sold to settle around 20 lakh to 22 lakh by October 9, when
the scheme ends.
Followed by repeated complaints by applicants that the 13 empanelled banks were refusing to give forms, the DDA conducted an inspection in these bank centres. In several of them it found that the branches had sold far lesser forms than what the DDA had provided them with. “We had earlier dispatched four lakh forms to 13 banks. On the other hand, the common public could purchase only 1.5 lakh application forms by the fifth day of the announcement of scheme. It is unusual because the demand is too high. Many complained that banks created and artificial scarcity of forms,” said a senior DDA official. The DDA forms are still not available at every branch of these
empanelled banks.
In Daryaganj and INA
market, several shopkeepers are selling these forms in black. “We have received a lot of
complaints on the illegal sale of forms. A police complaint has already been registered to take stern action in this regard. Besides, on Thursday we called a meeting with the empanelled banks and issued them
guidelines,” said the official. The DDA is also disseminating
information through advertisement to stop people to buy forms in black, appealing that everyone will get the forms but they would need to stay patient.
Moreover, applicants have also rued that the banks did not accept forms bought from centers other than where they submit it. The same issue is with submission of demand drafts, officials said. “In the meeting banks were warned that no form or demand draft would be turned down at any centre. We have also deployed our officials to keep a check on their
activities,” the official added.