DDA receives nearly 12,000 applications for ownership rights from illegal colonies

NEW DELHI: Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has received nearly 12,000 applications for ownership rights from residents of 1,731 unauthorised colonies in the capital under the Prime Minister-Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikaar Yojana (PM-UDAY) since March 22, when lockdown was first imposed in the city.

The number is nearly three times that of the number of applications received by the authorities from residents of these colonies since the scheme’s launch in December last year till March 20.

The Union cabinet had, in October 2019, approved the proposal to grant ownership rights to residents of the 1,731 unauthorised colonies in the city. The boundaries of these unauthorised colonies were then uploaded on its website by DDA for the purpose of delineation.

The DDA portal was launched on December 16, 2019, facilitating the applicants to apply for ownership rights online. The authority also created 25 help desks to facilitate application for ownership rights by residents of unauthorised colonies. The work of carrying out GIS mapping of properties, for which applications are received on the portal, has been outsourced by DDA.

From December 16, 2019 to March 20, 2020, DDA received total 4,573 completed applications from residents of these colonies for getting ownership rights. The number went down to just 512 from March 21, 2020 to May 8, 2020 but since May 9 and up to July 17, DDA has received 11,410 applications.

On the other hand, the number of registrations have seen a major fall since lockdown. While there were more than 2.5 lakh registrations on the DDA portal from the launch till March 20, there have been only 23,374 registrations between March 21 and July 17.

While total 546 conveyance deeds and authorisation slips were executed and issued till March 20, none were issued from then till May 8. The number of these ownership documents executed or issued since then is 251, taking the total number of documents issued since launch of scheme to 938. The total number of applications due to duplication or being out of boundary is 826 till date.

By the first half of May, GIS mapping of 70,000 properties was completed and during the lockdown, DDA’s four processing centres at Dwarka, Pitampura, Hauz Khas and Laxmi Nagar were operational. Officials at these centres were actively working even during the lockdown period.