When you move into your new house, I’m sure that you do not expect the walls to show cracks and the cement to chip off within 3 to 4 years. Well, that is exactly what has happened in most of the 3000-plus flats built by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) across different parts of Delhi.

DDA Flats in Shambles In Just 5 Years

These flats were allotted to residents in 2011. But in a short span – by 2014-15, the walls and ceilings of these homes have developed cracks, with plaster and concrete falling off. Seepage is another problem the people living in these homes have to deal with. So much so that these flats look like they were built decades ago instead of just 5 years earlier.

“The construction quality is so poor that we fear standing in the balconies and near the stair cases. It is a scary situation. First they give us poor quality houses, and then they collect thousands of crores from us as maintenance and do not spend a single penny.” said a frustrated Sushmita Sharma, a resident and mother of a three-year old girl.

The DDA has been in the business of building homes for over three decades. But poor construction quality and zero maintenance are things that the authority has not been able to fix till date and this has tarnished the DDA’s image. Fed up with DDA’s ‘little-do-we-care’ attitude, nearly 8,500 people or one-third of the allottees returned their flats under DDA’s 2014 housing scheme last year.

DDA Launches App To Empower Residents

This mass return coupled with constant allegations of corruption seems to have finally gotten the DDA to act. It has now launched a housing-feedback app to ensure transparency and deliver quality homes. The app empowers residents in crucial ways including:

· Allowing them to easily log in to the app with just their application number and password
· Giving them access to an exhaustive checklist, to identify and register their complaint
· Allowing them to get their complaints registered directly with the vice-chairman of the DDA
· Allowing money to the contractor to be released, only after residents are satisfied with the quality of work

“Until now, what used to happen is that our engineers used to certify the contractors and release the money. We have a provision of keeping aside 5% of the total money as security money and release it only after our engineers are satisfied with the construction quality. But now instead of our engineers, it will be our allottees that will assess the work quality, leave their comments in this housing feedback app and we will release the money only after the allotee is satisfied.” said Arun Goel, Vice-Chairman of the DDA.

The app seems to have come a tad bit late, but better late than never. We just hope that this app will help the DDA salvage its name and reputation and live up to peoples’ expectations, especially considering that it plans to offer another 40,000 flats to the public by December of this year.

Reporter: Oineetom Ojha, NDTV
Web Editor: Nikhil Narayan Sivadas, NDTV