DDA relaxes norms for installing lifts

If you live in a second or third-floor DDA flat, climbing those stairs won’t be a back-breaking experience anymore.

If you live in a second or third-floor DDA flat, climbing those stairs won’t be a back-breaking experience anymore. For, the Delhi Development Authority has eased the norms for installing lifts in its apartment blocks.

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The DDA, the country’s biggest land development agency, has been catering to Delhi's housing needs for more than 40 years. But since DDA structures usually have four floors, they do not have lifts.

Although flat-owners had so far been allowed to install lifts later on their own, the procedure for getting permission was cumbersome. All the owners of an individual block — with eight to 16 flats — had to agree to the proposal.

The new norm stipulates that lifts can be installed once most flat-owners in a block agree. The consent of the ground-floor owners — which was earlier the stumbling block — is no longer required.

The cost of installing a lift is R10-15 lakh, which the flat owners will have to bear, besides the cost involved in shifting or removing any utilities during the lift’s construction.

The flat-owners will have to apply for a no-objection certificate to the DDA for areas where it still maintains the utilities. Otherwise, the applications will have to be made to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

While applying for an NOC, flat-owners will have to get a structural stability certificate from a registered architect.