Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has offered the residents of Signature View Apartments housing complex, which was declared “structurally damaged” by IIT-Delhi, three options including redevelopment, buyback and swapping of flats.
“We have already made the offer to the residents of Signature View Apartments. The first offer is that we buy back while the second offer is that DDA will redevelop the complex and pay the rentals to the affected residents in the meantime. The third option is that we have flats available in different parts of the city which we can offer them to swap,” DDA vice chairman Subhasish Panda said.
He said DDA has an inventory of around 40,000 unsold flats in Narela, Dwarka and Jasola. Most of these are economically weaker section flats situated in Narela.
He also said that the redevelopment of the Signature View Apartment housing complex will be done as per the current norms, which means that the DDA will utilise more space and create more flats there.
Panda also clarified that those residents who choose the redevelopment plan would be provided rents by the DDA as per market rates.
“We have done an analysis of the rents of flats in Mukherjee Nagar and all the nearby areas and we will come up with an offer (for rent). They should respond at the earliest and vacate the building as it is dangerous for living,” he said.
DDA’s masterplan 2041 offers additional floor area ratio (FAR), however, the DDA will be using the FAR which has not been consumed already, he said.
The matter
Around 1,600 people live in the Signature View Apartments housing complex that comprises 12 towers.
The apartment complex was built between 2007 and 2010 and allotted to the residents in 2011-2012. But in just a few years, the buildings became structurally unsafe.
According to residents, construction-related issues started surfacing from 2012-13, soon after the society became operational. This forced the residents to complain to the DDA.
The IIT-Delhi study conducted in 2021-22 at the behest of DDA made a recommendation to “vacate and dismantle” the buildings immediately.
Residents’ response
Bhupinder Chaudhary, a resident of the housing complex, said redevelopment and the buyback offers are not clear.
They lack clarity on several points including the money to be given to residents in the buyback option, the modalities of redevelopment and rents to be given to residents. The DDA should clear its stand on these issues, Chaudhary said.
The Resident Welfare Association (RWA) of Signature View Apartments last month wrote a letter to the DDA where it demanded that a meeting should be scheduled with the member (Finance), member (Engineering) and commissioner (Housing) with the representatives of the RWA for reasonable buyback option for owners or allottees.
Gaurav Pandey, Signature View Apartment RWA Secretary, said a meeting with the DDA authorities is scheduled on March 16 to decide the future course of action.
The RWA letter stated that the DDA is under obligation to construct the buildings and hand over the respective flats at their cost. The residents demanded that in the buyback option residents should be compensated at prevailing market rates.
DDA action
On complaints of residents regarding the poor condition of buildings, Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on January 24 ordered the DDA to redevelop the housing complex in Mukherjee Nagar and help residents facing “grave danger to life and property”. He also directed the DDA to register FIR against erring officials and contractors.
Following LG's directions, the DDA has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to register FIRs against its 39 officials, contractors, and builders involved in the construction of Signature View Apartments, for “cheating, criminal breach of trust, and endangering the lives of residents”.
A vigilance inquiry by DDA had established “collusion” between its officials and builders or contractors, which resulted in “compromising the quality and structural safety of the construction, causing wrongful loss to DDA besides putting at peril the lives and property of hundreds of residents.”
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