DDA Violates RTI Act to Hide FAR Construction Crime in Delhi
DDA Violates RTI Act to Hide FAR Construction Crime in Delhi
Residents – who have been following my campaigns against FAR construction crime – must be knowing that FAR construction can be stopped and even illegal FAR construction can be demolished by taking the right administrative steps.
November 7, 2022
By Rakesh Raman
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) – which is one of the most corrupt government departments in India – has crossed all limits of criminality. With its aim to conceal the ongoing construction crime in Delhi’s housing societies, DDA does not provide information sought through the Right to Information (RTI) applications.
These days, a criminal activity is happening in Delhi’s cooperative group housing societies (CGHS) under the fraudulent floor area ratio (FAR) constriction scheme. Although Delhi is the most polluted city in the world, the DDA is allowing FAR construction which is spreading life-threatening dust pollution, noise pollution, and air pollution in occupied housing societies where children, men, women (including senior citizens) are suffering.
Now, FAR construction has assumed the scale of a citywide construction-cum-corruption racket – termed as Widehouse Corruption Scandal. This criminal enterprise is being run by local criminals who operate as management committee (MC) members of housing societies in connivance with crooked politicians, corrupt bureaucrats, complicit police officials, dishonest members of judiciary, and builders’ mafia. [ You can click here to read the report on FAR construction and Widehouse Corruption Scandal. ]
In response to the complaints filed by me, a number of IAS officers among others involved in the FAR racket are facing corruption investigations ordered by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India.
While the criminal MC members – in collusion with builders’ mafia – threaten residents to pay huge money for FAR crime, the corrupt officials of DDA ignore the aggrieved residents’ complaints to get FAR stopped in their housing societies. Consequently, the FAR crime is spreading faster than pollution in Delhi.
As a journalist and social activist, I have been running a free online community service “Clean House” for the past 5 years to report about crime and corruption happening in Delhi’s group housing societies where millions of people live.
The residents – who are being harassed by their MC members or administrators – file their online complaints on the “Clean House” service while I make the legal cases and report to the authorities in order to seek justice for the suffering residents.
Since I get a number of complaints related to FAR crime in different housing societies of Delhi, recently I decided to work aggressively to get FAR crime stopped so that men, women, and children could be saved from construction-related pollution and fatal accidents in society buildings.
RTI APPLICATION
In order to know the status of FAR, I filed the following RTI application with DDA which works under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India.
To October 14, 2022
The Public Information Officer (PIO)
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India / DDA
Subject: RTI Application to Seek Information under the Right to Information Act 2005
Name of the Applicant: Rakesh Raman
Dear PIO at MoHUA / Delhi Development Authority (DDA),
Please provide me with the following information:
1. List of departments which allow Floor Area Ratio (FAR) construction in Cooperative Group Housing Societies of Delhi including Dwarka.
2. List of Cooperative Group Housing Societies of Delhi including Dwarka where Floor Area Ratio (FAR) construction has been approved / sanctioned during 2018 to 2022.
3. List of Cooperative Group Housing Societies of Delhi including Dwarka where Floor Area Ratio (FAR) construction has been stopped during 2018 to 2022 with reasons for stoppage.
4. List of Cooperative Group Housing Societies of Delhi including Dwarka whose proposals for Floor Area Ratio (FAR) construction are currently pending.
5. List of Cooperative Group Housing Societies of Delhi including Dwarka where Floor Area Ratio (FAR) construction is currently happening.
6. List of Cooperative Group Housing Societies of Delhi including Dwarka where Floor Area Ratio (FAR) construction has caused accidents including construction-related deaths during 2018 to 2022.
7. List of Cooperative Group Housing Societies of Delhi including Dwarka from where residents have complained against Floor Area Ratio (FAR) construction during 2018 to 2022.
8. Names and designations of government officials against whom action has been or being taken for lapses in approvals in Floor Area Ratio (FAR) construction in Cooperative Group Housing Societies of Delhi including Dwarka.
If the information sought above is not available in your office, please forward my application to the concerned public information authority to seek information. Since the RTI Act violations are rampant in Delhi, please ensure that I get complete information.
Contact
Rakesh Raman
However, as I was expecting, the corrupt DDA officials did not provide me with the information that I sought through my RTI application about FAR projects in Delhi. It is a violation of the RTI Act. [ You can also click here to read the case of RTI Act violation by the office of the Registrar Cooperative Societies (RCS) of Delhi Government. ]
In its deceptive response to my RTI application, DDA claimed that it does not have the data about FAR construction projects, while DDA is the main department responsible for giving FAR approvals. [ The response from DDA is reproduced below as Exhibit 1. ]
Obviously, DDA is trying to hide the information related to FAR because it is a criminal activity and DDA and other officials are bribed to allow lethal FAR construction in occupied housing societies.
However, I have not given up and will soon take more steps to inform the authorities about FAR construction crime so that it could be stopped in the housing societies. I also urge residents to help me in this effort to get FAR stopped and Delhi’s environment protected.
Residents – who have been following my campaigns against FAR construction crime – must be knowing that FAR construction can be stopped and even illegal FAR construction can be demolished by taking the right administrative steps.
My objective is to get all criminals involved in the genocidal FAR construction crime jailed and – if possible – executed by the law-enforcement authorities.
You can click here to watch the related video on my RMN YouTube Channel. The video is also given below.
ABOUT RAKESH RAMAN
Rakesh Raman is a national award-winning journalist and founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation. Besides working at senior editorial positions with leading media companies, he was writing an exclusive edit-page column regularly for The Financial Express (a daily business newspaper of The Indian Express Group).
Nowadays, for the past 12 years, he has been running his own global news services on multiple news sites. He runs various environment protection, education awareness, and anti-corruption campaigns, and publishes digital magazines and research reports on different subjects.
Earlier, he had been associated with the United Nations (UN) through the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development.
At present, Rakesh is associated with the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project as a Country Expert for India to provide expert research inputs on multiple topics pertaining to democracy and governance. The V-Dem Project is managed by V-Dem Institute under the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Currently, he is also working as an editor for Wikipedia, which is a free online global encyclopedia.
In order to inform the Indian citizens and the global community about the extent of corruption in India, he compiled and released in October 2022 a comprehensive report on corruption in the country. Under the title “India Corruption Research Report 2022 (ICRR 2022),” the research report covers diverse aspects of corruption in India.
He has launched a nationwide campaign to introduce social democracy in India in order to build an egalitarian society in which all citizens could enjoy equal rights, opportunities, freedoms, and access to justice. He is running an editorial section / microsite “Power Play: Lok Sabha Election 2024 in India” to cover the election news, events, and political campaigns.
In his anti-corruption activities, he participated in a global petition led by Germany-based international organization Transparency International to call for the UN General Assembly Special Session against Corruption, UNGASS 2021, to direct all countries to set up central, public registers of beneficial ownership.
He runs a community-driven anti-corruption social service “Clean House” to help the residents of Delhi raise their voice against the growing corruption and injustice in housing societies where millions of people suffer because of rampant corruption and lawlessness. He has also formed an environment protection group called Green Group in New Delhi, which is the most polluted national capital in the world.
As Rakesh has been facing constant threats including death threats for his editorial and anti-corruption work, the Paris-based international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) that defends freedom of journalists has urged the Indian government to save him from threats and persecution.
Contact
Rakesh Raman
Editor, RMN News Service [ Website ]
Founder, RMN Foundation [ Website ]
463, DPS Apts., Plot No. 16, Sector 4
Dwarka, Phase I, New Delhi 110 078, India
WhatsApp / Mobile: 9810319059 | Contact by Email
Exhibit 1: In its response dated 21.10.2022 to the RTI application, DDA did not provide information related to FAR construction projects in the Cooperative Group Housing Societies of Delhi including Dwarka.
