DDA asks Delhi govt to return flats in Narela used for Covid quarantine

With Covid-19 cases declining over the past weeks, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has asked the Delhi government to return 5,077 flats in north Delhi’s Narela that were used as a quarantine facility at the start of the pandemic in 2020.

A senior DDA official said, “We have written to the Delhi government’s north district administration last month, asking them to return the flats as the number of Covid cases has declined and the facilities are lying largely unused. We plan to put these flats on sale. We had written to them last year as well in this regard. but are yet to receive a reply.”

On Wednesday, Delhi reported 325 new Covid cases but the daily test positivity rate continued to remain below 1% at 0.81%, according to the Delhi government’s daily health bulletin.

In April 2020, the DDA offered 5,077 flats, mostly lower income group units, in Narela’s Sector G2-G6 to the government for setting up quarantine facilities as the number of Covid cases had started increasing at that time. Initially, the facility was used to quarantine international passengers arriving in Delhi.

A large number of people who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at the Nizamuddin Markaz in south-east Delhi in March and contracted Covid-19 were also isolated there. The flats were among the 15 Covid care centres or isolation centres started by the Delhi government in 2020.

DDA officials said the 5,077 flats are located in three pockets of Sector G2-G6 —1,646 flats in pocket 4, 1,800 in pocket 3 and 1,631 in pocket 5. “Of the three pockets, flats in pockets 3 and 4 were used as quarantine facilities, but flats in pocket 5 have been lying unused for the past two years,” said a second senior DDA official, asking not to be named.

A senior official with the north district said on condition of anonymity, “We have not received the (DDA) letter as yet. We will respond as and when we receive that letter. Also, the decision on whether or not to continue with the quarantine facility at these flats will be taken by the Delhi government.”

Delhi government spokesperson said, “We are in process of assessing the prevailing situation. We shall return the said flats soon.”

The land-owning agency came out with a housing scheme this January to dispose of 18,000 flats that were returned by allottees of past housing schemes. “But the flats given to the Delhi government for running Covid care centres were not included in the scheme. We plan to put them on sale only in the next scheme,” said the official quoted above.

The DDA has been struggling to clear its inventory of flats, especially in Narela, for the past few years. Of the 18,000 flats in its inventory, about 13,900 are in Narela. Last year, the DDA approved a proposal to put on sale all returned flats and offer them at the old rates in an attempt to dispose of these flats.