Signature View Apartment residents to take call on DDA’s package

The development authority has offered two options to residents of the crumbling apartment— buy back and reconstruction

Residents of the crumbling Signature View Apartment (SVA) in north Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar, which is supposed to be evacuated and dismantled soon, received the formal rehabilitation offer letter from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Monday.

Signature View Apartment in Mukherjee Nagar. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

The residents will now hold a meeting on July 2 to take a call on the terms of agreement before they take a decision to move out.

The development authority has offered two options to residents — buy back and reconstruction. The terms of both options have been agreed upon by the residents’ welfare organisation (RWA), according to DDA officials.

Residents are now hoping that they get a month’s time before vacating the society to give them enough time to look for accommodation so that they can start moving out.

“Most residents agree with the terms offered by DDA — whether for reconstruction or for buy back. We just have to discuss which option residents would prefer. We will take a final call in our general body meeting on July 2. We just want that around a month’s time be given to residents to hunt for rented accommodation and move out,” said Amrendra Jha, president of SVA RWA.

Construction of the Signature View apartment began in 2007 and the first flats were allotted in 2011. According to residents, the first incidents of falling grit wash plaster and cracks in walls started appearing as early as 2013. They have also witnessed parts of the ceiling collapsing in at least 26 flats in five blocks, peeling of plasters, CC of roofs of flats, cracks in beams, walls, roof, balconies, drawing rooms, kitchen and washrooms.

The apartment is located on the main road barely 1.5km from GTB Nagar Metro station and less than 4km away from the North Campus of Delhi University.

In January, lieutenant governor VK Saxena directed DDA to “vacate and dismantle” the 12 towers of Signature View after an IIT-Delhi report deemed it unfit for habitation.

In its offer letter to the residents, DDA said that under the buy back option, DDA will refund the cost of capital to flat owners, excluding maintenance charges. It will also pay a simple interest of 10.6% per annum on the cost of capital from the date of each payment till June 14 this year, which is when the proposal was approved by DDA. Officials said that this payment will be made after submitting proof of payment and a no dues certificate for property tax, and electricity, water and PNG bills.

For those who opt for reconstruction, DDA will pay monthly rental of ₹50,000 to HIG (high-income group) residents and ₹38,000 to MIG (middle-income group) residents for a period of three years or till the date of offer of allotment, whichever is earlier, from the day the residents hand over their vacant flats.

The new offer also states that the carpet area of the newly constructed flats will not be reduced. However, additional floors will be added to various towers for constructing 144 more flats. DDA will also construct a separate block with 118 EWS flats that it will allot as per its policy.

DDA has also offered to extend the balcony size by two metres on payment of additional charges. Additionally, for those who have one or no parking, DDA will also be making more parking lots, which will be allotted through an e-auction process.

“The letter has been sent to residents regarding the two proposals mentioned in the authority meeting. In all cases, a tripartite agreement with the conditions and the option selected by the residents will be signed by the DDA, flat owner and RWA,” said a DDA official, asking not to be named.

Officials added that the draft tripartite agreement and the related documents are being finalised and will be sent to residents soon.

“In the meanwhile, RWA is requested to quickly reach a consensus about the option to be exercised by each allottee/owner. This proposal will be executed only after the written consent by each of the 336 allottees to exercise one of the two options of buy back or reconstruction,” said the DDA letter. It added that every flat owner will also have to submit an undertaking and an indemnity bond that their flat is free from all encumbrances.