Noida directors to decide on agency for software

The board of directors of Noida will meet this month-end to decide which agency will provide the software for the draw of lots for residential and industrial plots that was cancelled yesterday following uproar over allegations that it was rigged.

Dismissing charges that the Saturday draw of lots for allotment of the 1,250 plots, half of them residential, in the satellite township near the National Capital was rigged, Noida Chief Executive Officer Dev Dutt today said the board meeting would also decide the dates for the fresh draw.

He also said there were certain "technical errors" that had developed when the list was published and that was one of the reasons why the controversial draw was cancelled.

Explaining the background of the draw in which the state government undertaking UPDESCO devised the software, he said experts from the central government undertaking C-Dac and Motilal Nehru National Institute of Information Technology and Uttar Pradesh Electronic Corporation had checked the software.

They certified that the software developed by UPDESCO gave an equal opportunity for all applicants in their categories after they supervised a mock draw of lots held on July 2, he said.