New Delhi: With one eye on the Delhi assembly polls next year, the BJP-led Centre on Wednesday approved a proposal that would grant ownership rights to the residents of nearly 1,800 unauthorised colonies in the national capital. The decision is expected to benefit around 50 lakh people.
This was among many decisions taken during the Union cabinet’s decision. Addressing the media after the meet, housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri called the move a “Diwali gift” to the people Delhi. He said the proposal would enable the residents of these colonies to register their properties, avail loans against it and also pave the way for infrastructure development and civic amenities.
In the light of the decision, the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the ruling party in Delhi, accused each other of “delaying” the process.
While Puri said the Arvind Kejriwal-led government tried to delay the process by holding off the process to fix boundaries of these colonies. He said the Delhi government sought time till 2021 to fix the boundaries of these colonies.
The AAP, meanwhile, accused the BJP of intentionally delaying the regularisation only to approve the proposal ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. AAP leader Sanjay Singh said, “Why now, just before the Assembly elections. Why did the BJP delay the process for four years when we wanted to complete it at the earliest? BJP should stop drama and complete the rest of the process at the earliest.”
‘Legislation during winter parliament session’
Union minister Puri said the Centre would move swiftly to execute the decision and bring in a legislation in the winter session of parliament, which is scheduled to begin on November 18.
The decision “is applicable to 1,797 identified unauthorised colonies” inhabited by people from lower-income groups, he said.
The decision does not apply to 69 affluent colonies identified by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), including Sainik Farms, Mahendru Enclave and Anant Ram Dairy, he said.
Puri said residents will have the option to pay regularisation charge in three equal instalments to be paid in a year.
“Any person paying full amount in one instalment will get the ownership rights immediately. Provisional rights will be given on payment of two instalments, which will be converted to permanent rights after full and final payment,” he said.
Roadmap sent by Delhi government: Kejriwal
While Kejriwal welcomed the decision, he pointed out that the road map for the regularisation was based on a proposal sent by the Delhi government, first in November 2015 and then in July this year. He asked the Centre to speed up the process to provide relief to inhabitants of these colonies.
The chief minister also asserted that in the past five years, the AAP government has invested Rs 6,000 crore in unauthorised colonies without waiting for their regularisation.
He said the Delhi government has suggested in July that mapping should be conducted by the Geospatial Delhi Limited (GSDL), a public sector undertaking under the Delhi government, to speed up the process. “But the DDA will do this work, resulting in a delay in the registry of houses in unauthorised colonies,” he said.
File image of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. Photo: PTI
According to a Delhi government official, the Centre’s decision to allow the DDA to delineate boundaries of unauthorised colonies will further delay the process as the land-owning agency does not have expertise in it.
“It will be a lengthy process. It is not going to be completed in one or two months. As per our rough estimate, it can take the DDA eight to ten months to delineate the boundaries of unauthorised colonies,” said the official, who did not wish to be named.
A senior DDA official said the urban body will soon begin work on the marking of the boundaries of these unauthorised colonies. “The mapping will be based on 2015 satellite imagery, and the boundaries will be mapped on to that imagery. In three months, we will complete the marking of the boundaries. We will launch a portal for people to apply by furnishing relevant details,” the official said.
Politically significant decision
The decision is politically significant as the move comes ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls, scheduled for early next year, and it is likely to benefit nearly 50 lakh people. The issue of unauthorised colonies has been figuring in the past several polls of the national capital.
Residents of various unauthorised colonies also welcomed the Centre’s move, but said the decision should be implemented soon and not be reduced to a “token” promise ahead of the Assembly polls. Manoj Bisht, a resident of Kunwar Singh Nagar in Najafgarh, said every time representatives of political parties visit the colonies before elections and give the same assurance.
“Finally they have listened to the demand. But since it has been so long, this promise is hard to believe unless it is actually done,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)