india

Updated: Jul 24, 2019 06:39 IST

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) will come out with a housing scheme for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category next week, DDA vice chairman Tarun Kapoor said on Tuesday.

The decision was taken after the land-owning agency got a poor response for 7,700 flats that were put on sale in the housing scheme of 2019.

For the 7,700 flats located in Narela, the DDA received just 1,500 applications. This was one of the main reasons for DDA to reduce the number of flats, from 18,000 to 10,294, in the draw of lots conducted by the land-owning agency on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, 2,616 EWS flats were placed in the draw of lots but only 1,223 allotted.

DDA officials said they were hopeful that more people apply in the special EWS scheme, as the DDA has reduced the cost of EWS flats from Rs 17-19 lakh to Rs 9-13 lakh. “We will advertise a special scheme for the EWS houses next week. We have reduced the cost. In the Rs 17-19 lakh category, we have reduced the construction cost by 40%. This means the flat will now cost Rs 12-13 lakh,” Kapoor said.

There is another category of EWS flats which are for Rs 10 lakh. The DDA has decided to reduce its cost by 10%. DDA officials clarified that those who were allotted flats in the Tuesday’s draw of lots in the EWS category will also benefit from the scheme.