In 60 days, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) got only 22,000 applications from home buyers for it's 2017 housing scheme.
Of these, only 8,000 are for LIG houses, which comprise more than 11,000 of the 12,000 houses on offer. The scheme has been a flop so far.
It offers more than 12,000 flats across all income categories and was launched on June 30 with August 11 being the last date. However, with a meagre 15% forms being sold till mid-August, the last date was extended to 11 September.
Each forms costs the urban body Rs 30. Even if four lakh forms are left unsold, it will cause a loss of over Rs 1 crore to the body.
"We have over 11,000 LIG flats, but we have received only 8,000 applications for these. We are waiting for the last phase , as people tend to submit applications in the last few days," said a senior official.
According to sources, the DDA expecting the scheme to do well since it was coming three years after the last housing scheme in 2014, had got five lakh forms printed in the first phase itself.
The DDA is offering over 12,000 houses in the scheme, of which around 11,000 are LIG flats which were returned in the 2014 scheme for being too small in size.
In a bid to have more buyers apply for the scheme, the DDA last month also relaxed the forfeiture clause.
According to officials, the forfeiture clause in this year's scheme had made banks wary of giving loans on the registration money. The banks' refusal to finance the registration amount has turned away many buyers.
In a meeting held in July, banks had urged the housing authority to remove the clause of 25% registration fee being forfeited.
The DDA had this year put a new clause of 25% registration fee being confiscated if houses are returned after the draw of lots in order to make sure that buyers don't surrender the houses and that only "serious buyers" come forward for the scheme.
