DTCP set to relaunch upgraded portal for affordable housing allotments after probe

DTCP officials said that the portal has been upgraded and soon the department will initiate the process of allotment of six real estate affordable projects.

The department of town and country planning (DTCP) will soon relaunch the upgraded portal for allotment of affordable flats, said officials.

The portal can now automatically generate the applicant’s address through their Aadhaar card number. (HT archive)

The portal was put on hold in February this year after irregularities were found in allotment of flats in a project in Sohna, apparently due to a technical glitch. Following this, the department had carried out a detailed investigation and decided that software and portal used for allotment will be revealed, added officials.

DTCP officials said that the portal has been upgraded and soon the department will initiate the process of allotment of six real estate affordable projects.

Applications will be invited for the sale of approximately 5,000 flats in Gurugram, Sohna and Rewari. The forms will be filled online on the portal and it will verify the details after which allotment will be carried out through a draw of lots, added officials.

Six builder companies have obtained licenses to develop residential societies under the affordable housing policy of 2016.

DTCP officials said that licenses were issued for projects in sector 99A in Gurugram in 2023 and for sector 93 in 2020. Additionally, DTCP has issued licenses to builders to develop one residential society each in sector 25 in Sohna and sector 3 in Farrukhnagar, and two residential societies in Rewari.

The portal can now automatically generate the applicant’s address through their Aadhaar card number and reveal whether the applicant has a flat under the scheme. If an applicant wishes to apply under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), they will need to enter the certificate number issued under this scheme.

“The upgraded portal has undergone trials and there is no longer any possibility of any irregularities. Soon, online applications for flats in six affordable projects will be invited through this portal,” said Renuka Singh, senior town planner, DTCP, Gurugram.

In May, the DTCP had cancelled the allotment of 708 flats in sector 36 Sohna after it was found that a software glitch in the online portal led to allotment of flats to applicants of Sohna town only. The departmental committee found that only 2,200 applicants of the 51,586 were considered for the draw. On February 18, the department decided to withhold the allotment after finding anomalies in results, added officials.