The Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) is set to relaunch its upgraded portal for allotment of affordable housing units, months after irregularities in the Sohna project forced the system to be suspended.

Officials said the revamped platform has been tested and fortified to prevent glitches, and will soon be used to initiate allotments for six affordable housing projects across Gurugram, Sohna and Rewari. Around 5,000 flats will be offered through online applications, with the enhanced portal enabling automated Aadhaar-based verification and stricter eligibility checks, according to a report by The Hindustan Times.

Six builder companies have obtained licenses to develop residential societies under the affordable housing policy of 2016.

The portal can now automatically generate the applicant’s address through their Aadhaar card number and reveal whether the applicant has a flat under the scheme. If an applicant wishes to apply under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), they will need to enter the certificate number issued under this scheme.

“The upgraded portal has undergone trials and there is no longer any possibility of any irregularities. Soon, online applications for flats in six affordable projects will be invited through this portal,” said Renuka Singh, senior town planner, DTCP, Gurugram.

In May, the DTCP had cancelled the allotment of 708 flats in sector 36 Sohna after it was found that a software glitch in the online portal led to allotment of flats to applicants of Sohna town only. The departmental committee found that only 2,200 applicants of the 51,586 were considered for the draw. On February 18, the department decided to withhold the allotment after finding anomalies in results, added officials.

DTCP officials said that licenses were issued for projects in sector 99A in Gurugram in 2023 and for sector 93 in 2020. Additionally, DTCP has issued licenses to builders to develop one residential society each in sector 25 in Sohna and sector 3 in Farrukhnagar, and two residential societies in Rewari.

To apply for the flats, the applicants will need to fill an application on the DTCP website and create a login ID and password.They will have to submit an affidavit saying he/she does not own an affordable flats under this policy and pay five percent of the cost of the flat online, added officials.