Hope DDA gives me plot in my lifetime: Allottee who lost leg in blast

According to him, after he lost his leg he was forced to shut down his travel agency.

For Vipin Kumar Gautam, his battle to be allotted a plot by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), under its 1981 residential scheme for Rohini, cost him one of his legs in the bomb blast outside the Delhi High Court on September 7, 2011, as he stood in queue to get inside for a hearing in the matter.

For 66-year-old Gautam, the fight has been traumatic. “More than 30 years later, I still don’t have a permanent roof over my head. The SC order to allot developed plots to us within four months does give us some hope but the DDA has found ways to work around court orders in the past also,” he said.

According to him, after he lost his leg he was forced to shut down his travel agency. “I have lost everything in the process. The Supreme Court has said that we be allotted these plots but when we will get physical possession is another matter. I hope I am handed the plot in my lifetime,” he said.

In 1981, around 1.17 lakh plots had been earmarked for allotment under a residential scheme for Rohini. Only 82,000 people applied under the scheme. While 55,000 were allotted plots, 25,000 others were kept waiting for more than 30 years.

“I was 34 when I applied for a plot under the scheme. I am now 69 and don’t know whether I will even be able to make a house on the plot if the DDA hands it over. My children joke about it. I served my country in the army and won several medals. Frustrated over DDA’s delay in allotting the plot, I returned my medals to the Chief Justice of India in April this year,” he said.

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