5,000 applications for 139 EWS flats; lottery on Apr 19

As many as five thousand people have applied for 139 flats meant for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS).

The flats have come up in New Town. The Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) is likely to hold a lottery to select the flat owners on April 19 at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.

The applicants will have to be present by 10.30 am on April 19 and will have to bring a photo identity proof along with the original receipt of the application for registration. The applications were received by different branches of a nationalised bank.

Later, three teams were set up to scrutinise the applications and prepare a data baseontaining their addresses and cell numbers.

HIDCO had expected a huge turnout and thus, that it was decided to hold the lottery at Netaji Indoor Stadium.

To make the whole exercise transparent, the applicants present on April 19 will draw the lots. The specific EWS flat numbers will be selected through a lottery.

It may be mentioned that before 2011, when the Trinamool Congress government came to power, a lot of allegations were made against the allotment of land under the chairman's quota.

The then housing minister Gautam Deb was the chairman of HIDCO. After coming to power, Mamata Banerjee abolished the chairman's quota and made a senior bureaucrat Debashis Sen, the chairman of HIDCO. From 2011, there is complete transparency in holding lotteries and in allotment of plots.

It may be mentioned that HIDCO has so far received over 566 applications for plots meant for residential houses and housing cooperatives. HIDCO will distribute 75 plots measuring anything between 3.5 cottah and 6 cottah. The applications have been received online. As a part of the drive to make the administration transparent, there was an e-auction for the allotment of plots for the proposed township in New Town.

The township is coming up on an 80 acre of land at Jagadishpur mouja situated off Eco Urban village.