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DDA to draw lots for HIG flats finally

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI MARCH. 4. After three major goof-ups which tested public patience to the hilt and led to repeated postponement of draws, the Delhi Development Authority is all geared up for the final draw of lots for allotment of 1,164 flats under its High Income Group scheme on March 12. Moreover, the computer firm CMC Limited has been clearly told this time by DDA that another error could lead to the company getting "blacklisted''.

The civic agency was earlier forced to postpone the draw of lots for allotment of 1,164 flats in Sarita Vihar and Dwarka for the third time in 21 days on February 21.

Following that incident, DDA had summoned senior officials of CMC Limited and demanded an explanation from them. "We had threatened to blacklist them. But they assured us that nothing wrong would happen this time and so the next draw of lots is scheduled for March 12,'' said the Vice-Chairman of DDA, Subhash Sharma.

In fact as DDA came under severe criticism with the applicants claiming that there was a deliberate design in the postponement, senior officials of CMC Limited were called. "The Chairman-cum-Managing Director himself came over and assured that nothing would go wrong as 72 check tests have been conducted on the system this time to make it fool-proof.''

Mr Sharma said mismatch of hardware and software has been found to be responsible for one of the delays. On another occasion, there was an electricity problem and the UPS did not function properly. Stating that CMC Limited has apologised for the problems, he hoped that this time the 5,717 applicants will not be disappointed.

Incidentally, following the three "failures'', DDA had sought and obtained permission from the Lieutenant Governor to conduct the draw manually, which while taking about two days -- as against two hours for the computerised draw -- would have ensured a faultless draw. Its computer cell had also prepared a programme for the draw. But later as CMC Limited assured a proper draw, DDA decided to give the company another chance. For the applicants it has been a long wait for the results. And on occasions, they have come really close to the final announcement.

On January 30 the draw was conducted but as the names of the 60 successful allottees could not be obtained on the computer and so the result had to be cancelled.

Thereafter on February 14, a computer error again led to cancellation after the names of all the allottees had been announced. And then a week later, the draw again could not be conducted as per the schedule. This time even the IAS officers from the Ministry of Urban Development decided against conducting it due to the inherent technical problems. In this background, the stage is set for the March 12 draw. On the one hand it will end the suspense for the applicants, while on the other it would throw light on the condition and efficiency of DDA's computer system.

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