Delhi Development Authority held its meeting on August 10, through video conferencing under the chairmanship of Anil Baijal, Lt Governor of Delhi and chairman of DDA, attended by Anurag Jain, IAS, vice-chairman of DDA and other members of the Authority including Vijender Gupta (MLA), Somnath Bharti (MLA), O P Sharma (MLA) and Kailash Sankla, municipal councillor of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

Following major decisions were taken:

Policy for allotment of CNG station sites

To bring in transparency and increase efficiency in the process of allotment of CNG station sites' plots, the Authority has approved policy for e-auction of CNG station sites, under which DDA will allot sites to individuals or gas distribution companies and its Letter of Intent (LoI) holders through the mode of the auction on a license basis. Earlier, the lands were allotted for five years and the increase in the rates was also uncertain as it was related to average auction rates. Under the new policy, the tenure of the licence is 10 years, renewable up to 30 years, and the increase in the licence fee is fixed.

To promote green fuel in the capital city, the Authority decided to grant a discount of 50 per cent on the value of land in fixing the reserve price. The licence fee (reserve price) is substantially lesser in comparison to the fee payable in neighbouring states. The new policy will encourage private investment by improving the environment of certainty.

 The policy is futuristic and improves the ease of doing business. It allows CNG and any other non-fossil fuel. Further, only restrictions are those mandated by Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) and Unified Building Bye-Laws (UBBL)

Any gas distributing companies, their LoI holders or even those persons who are likely to get LoI within a year are eligible to participate in the auction. Therefore, any person who may not have an LOI at the time of auction but is eligible to get the LoI of M/S IGL can also participate in the e-auction process.

It was also decided to allot 25 per cent sites directly to IGL for running the station on Company Owned Company Operate (COCO) model.

Multi-level car parking

The Development Control Norms of Multi-Level Parking for private modes were approved by the Authority for consideration and final approval by MoHUA, as a part of the amendment to MPD-2021. The proposal was preliminarily approved by the Authority in its meeting held on March 13 earlier this year. After that, a public notice was issued for inviting objections/suggestions.

The new norms will bring more clarity in terms of the FAR to be utilised for commercial use, which is a prerequisite considering the viability of the projects. The current modification has adopted a graded approach for apportionment of commercial FAR on the plots which varies as per the plot size. The norms have introduced flexibility in the provisioning of commercial FAR for the specific size of plots to be constructed for public use provided the stipulated condition of Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) and Traffic Management Plan (TMP) is fulfilled.

It has been mandated that the construction of MLCP is to be linked with TIA and TMP studies and the management aspect of assigning a single agency to ensure proper utilization of the MLCP and decongestion of the adjoining areas. Besides, annual accounts of the Authority for the year 2019-2020 were approved by the Authority.

Other developments

Computerisation of processes related to Housing Department: Major public dealing departments of DDA are PM Uday, Land Disposal and Housing. The processes in PM Uday and LD have already been computerised. It was brought to the notice of the Authority that processes of Housing have also been computerised and from June 1, 2021, only online applications are being received. The offline process has been done away with.

A campaign was initiated to dispose of all the offline cases in a time-bound manner so that after the transition to the online processes, no case will remain pending beyond the time prescribed in the citizen's charter.

The matter was also discussed in the Authority meeting in January 2021 where it was desired that the process should be completed at the earliest.

Anurag, the vice-chairman informed that there is no pendency on part of DDA in Housing Department cases before June 1. However, there are pending 882 cases, where action is awaited on part of applicants, wherein either payment is due or some documents need to be submitted. The name and other details of these applicants have been uploaded to DDA’s website. The applicants may access the deficiency letter online using NSK ID.

The Land Disposal Department of DDA is also making similar efforts to reduce pendency and it is expected to bring down the pendency within the time limit prescribed by the Citizen Charter by September 2021.