COURTESY HT SEPT 26

DDA plans major revamp

The authority has had trouble selling several housing projects over the past six years, and has an inventory of about 10,000 vacant flats. HT ARCHIVE
Risha Chitlangia

letters@hindustantimes.com

New Delhi : The Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the city’s biggest landowning agency, is likely to undergo a major organisational re-haul that will reduce its sanctioned workforce by nearly 48% as its role changes from that of a developer to a planner and a regulator, officials familiar with the developments said.

The changes, once approved, will mean that DDA does less of construction and more of planning and management of government land. The authority has had trouble selling several housing projects over the past six years, and has an inventory of about 10,000 vacant flats and 30,000 flats in various stages of construction.

The restructuring was first planned in 2014, when DDA engaged the National Productivity Council (NPC) to look at the body’s future and optimal utilisation of staff going forward.

According to the proposed phase-wise restructuring -- which has been shared with DDA employees on its website -- it plans to cut the total sanctioned strength from 13,383 to 6,860 by reducing its staff strength in the Group B and Group C categories by 1,974 (from 4,123) and 5,292 (from 8,611) respectively.

Group A, which has a staff of 649, will be increased to 1,392.

Group A employees are commissioners, directors, and deputy director-level officials; Group B are junior and assistant engineers; and Group C are support staff like gardeners and security guards who manage DDA parks, housing projects and offices.

“We are looking at a change in our role and moving towards being a planner, regulator and managing government land. This requires changes in the profile of departments. We will not require so many people in the future as our aim to make the organisation dynamic and ensure optimal utilisation of staff,” DDA vice-chairman Anurag Jain said.

Once approved, this restructuring, however, will not require any layoffs, according to senior officials, since DDA already functions with only about 6,000 employees working at the moment. The rest of the posts have been lying vacant for years.

A second DDA official, who asked not be named, explained the proposed changes in greater detail: “The reason why Group A employees will be increased is because, under DDA’s new role, it will focus more on urban planning and regulation with policies like land-pooling being implemented. At the same time, the sanctioned strength in Group B and C will go down because construction will reduce, as will management of facilities, and technology has enabled us to provide a lot of services online.”

Despite DDA saying existing staff will not be sacked, the proposal has not gone down well with employees, especially in the engineering department, who are planning to start a protest.

“DDA has arbitrarily decided on the numbers. The proposal will impact our promotions. We will stage a protest in October. We want the proposal withdrawn,” Param Yadav, president of All DDA Engineers Association and All DDA Employees Association, said.

DDA was constituted in 1957 for planned developed of the city, including preparation of master plans, management of government land, and providing affordable housing.

But over time, and particularly over the past decade, its role as a builder diminished with the rise of private firms in and around Delhi at competitive prices with higher quality. The role appeared to change further with the approval in 2015 of the land-pooling policy, which aims at the development in the outskirts to meet Delhi’s housing requirement. Under this, landowners will form consortiums to carry out development, and DDA’s role will be restricted to preparing the plan and facilitating the development.

NPC submitted a report on a restructuring plan for DDA in January 2017. According to a third DDA official, the landowning agency then prepared a final proposal after consulting all departments heads, before sending the report earlier this year to the Union housing and urban affairs ministry.

“On the ministry’s direction this month, we have put it in public domain for our employees to give their suggestions/objections. With a lot of services being taken online, the need for manpower in several departments has gone down,” the official said.

The proposal will be sent back to the ministry for a final nod.

“With the scope of work changing and DDA becoming more of a planner and regulator, the requirement for staff will also go down,” said Balvinder Kumar, former DDA vice-chairman and member of Uttar Pradesh RERA.

But they also said the body should not stop construction activities altogether.

“While DDA should focus on the preparation of the MPD and its strict implementation, it should continue to develop housing, especially for the economically weaker sections,” said R Srinivas from the Town and Country Planning Organisation.