BENGALURU: Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) officials are upbeat over the response to its newly launched scheme of offering instant flats. Two separate requests for bulk booking totalling 400 flats have only added to their excitement. However, the authorities are yet to take a final call due to the large number of flats demanded.
After the launch of the ‘Across the Table’ allotment scheme, BDA Superintending Engineer N G Gowdaiah told Express, “On Friday, we received requests in person for 300 flats at Kanminike from a Housing Co-operative Society. Demand for another 100 flats at Kanminike and Komaghatta was made by the staff of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation for immediate allotment.”
“We will place the requests in front of our Board of Directors. If they agree to bulk bookings, we can accept the requests.”
Altogether 2,705 flats of 1BHK, 2BHK and 3BHK dimensions spread across Valagerahalli, Alur, Malagala, Kanminike, Komaghatta and Doddabahanalli are up for grabs. Both BDA and Canara Bank within its premises are gearing up to face the rush expected on Monday.
“We had not issued any public notification through the media before the launch and only gave two small advertisements. But nearly 2,000 people came over. Now that the news has spread, we are looking at huge numbers this week,”Gowdaiah added.
Bank manager Raghavendra N Rao said: “We extended our transaction timings from 3 pm up to 5 pm to cater to the demand. On Monday, we are expecting customers to start queuing up outside bank as early as 8.30 am.”A provisional allotment letter along with the flat number is being handed over after the payment of the initial deposit (12.5% of the full cost) on the same day for those eligible. The final allotment letter will be handed over after full payment.
Gowdaiah said, “Apart from the 50 who have been allotted the flats, another 17 have also paid the initial deposit and are awaiting allotment. We are waiting for a couple of days before awarding them flats since we follow reservation norms. Only if those under reserved sections do not turn up, those under the general category can be given the requested flats. A senior BDA official said the flats are likely to be sold within a fortnight.
No bank counter irks flat aspirants
The common grouse spelt out by those who became instant flat owners ran thus: it is time consuming to keep running between the bank and the new allotment wing and wait in queues. The amount for the application and registration forms needs to be paid at the bank counter and a challan collected from there handed to BDA. The DD for the initial deposit needs to be submitted at Canara Bank and the challan handed over to BDA. A BDA official said they were aware of this and were negotiating with bank officials to ease the process. “The problem the bank faces is they cannot suddenly open a counter and start collecting cash outside their premises,” he said.