Oct 9 last date to apply for a DDA flat

If you are looking for a flat in Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) latest housing scheme but haven’t applied yet, doing so early next week would be a good idea.

If you are looking for a flat in Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) latest housing scheme but haven’t applied yet, doing so early next week would be a good idea.

The DDA’s housing scheme 2014 with 25,034 flats on offer was launched on September 1 and will remain open till October 9. If one counts from Monday, there are still 11 days to go before the scheme closes. But effectively, applicants have just six-and-a-half days left to submit forms.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are working days but October 2 is a bank holiday on account of Gandhi Jayanti. October 3 is closed due to Dussehra celebrations.

October 4 is a Saturday and all banks, where the forms have to be submitted, would be open only for half a day.

October 5 is a Sunday and the next day again is a bank holiday on account of Eid-ul-Zuha.

The DDA has sold over 16 lakh housing scheme forms of which only 50,000 applications have been submitted. Of the total forms submitted, 60 per cent were done online, DDA sources said.

This means that between 10 and 15 lakh applicants who bought forms from counters and are yet to submit them will do so in just six-and-a-half days. DDA officials said that even if applicants filled forms online, these would not be processed during bank holidays.

“There was a slump in both the sale and submission of forms for a fortnight during the Shraddh period. With the beginning of the Navratras, the sale of forms has picked up again and large number of applications are being received,” said a senior DDA official who didn’t wish to be named.

“As only a few days remain and also going by our past experience, we are expecting a huge rush of applicants in the last three working days -- October 7, 8 and 9,” he said.

On October 9, the last date for the scheme, applications would be received only till the normal banking hours.