DDA to ready only 1,600 flats in Vasant Kunj

Despite its assurance on August 6 that 4,000 flats in Vasant Kunj will be ready in time for the Commonwealth Games, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) admitted at a recent meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers that it will now only deliver 1,600 rooms for the October event.

Sources at the Organising Committee (OC) have also revealed that the completed flats are not up to the expected ‘international standards’, and only national technical staff will be accommodated in them. International technical staff will now be accommodated at hotels. The DDA, meanwhile, said it has not been informed of this decision yet.

The recent revelation is yet another in a long string of embarrassments for the land authority. The DDA was tasked with constructing the flats and the Indian Tourism Development Corporation was handed the task of furnishing them.

While the national technical staff will be accommodated in 1,600 flats, the rest were meant to accommodate tourists.

“The OC’s original requirement for its staff was approximately 1,600 rooms, which we will deliver in time. ITDC is working on furnishing those rooms right now,” said Nand Lal, Finance Member, DDA. When asked if the Ministry of Tourism was unhappy with the news as the rest of the flats were to accommodate tourists, Nand Lal added, “Not at all. They have enough rooms to accommodate tourists.”

DDA officials also said that as a result of the security restrictions around the flats where the Games staff will be accommodated, it would have been difficult to accommodate tourists. The remaining flats will be ready after the Games, and allotted by way of the DDA’s usual draw system.

While the land agency claimed the Vasant Kunj flats were originally part of its usual housing construction and were to be ready

by December this year, in April last year, with concerns paramount about tourist accommodation during the Games, it had volunteered to get its flats ready in time for the event.

Earlier in July, DDA’s two main contractors on the job — M/S Brahmaputra and M/S A K Mehta — had expressed serious reservations about being able to complete the flats on time. Following negotiations with them, DDA had decided that 4,000 flats will be completed instead of the original 5,000. The DDA’s Engineering Union had then protested that its engineers were being pressurised to finish work on these flats, which may result in sub-standard construction.

The DDA had then allayed fears on August 6 by assuring that the quality of the flats would be above par and that 4,000 flats will be ready for the Games.