: The Delhi government has approved the Delhi Slum and JJ Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy, 2015, which focuses on in-situ development for the city’s urban poor.
The policy was approved in a board meeting of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), which was chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday. “Four exemptions have been included for in-situ development and the clause of income cap has been removed,” said V.K. Jain, CEO, DUSIB.
On April 1, The Hindu had reported how the Union Urban Development Ministry had directed to add the criteria wherein only those who earned up to Rs. 3 lakh per annum were eligible for rehabilitation. “As per the directions of the MoUD, we had included the clause in the policy. Now, anyone with an ID proof will be eligible for housing in these areas,” he added. The city has 675 slums and JJ clusters, which have a requirement of about 3 lakh dwelling units.
Explaining the exemptions, a DUSIB official said, “As per the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill, 2014, a few clusters cannot be touched in the Capital as the deadline for the rule was extended till December 31, 2017. This means that clusters which have court cases involved, or have proposed road or urban development projects on the land occupied, or are under the railway safety zone, will be left out of in-situ development,” the official said.
While a railway safety zone is land that covers an area of 15 m from either side of tracks, it is to be seen what the fate of Shakur Basti slum dwellers will be. The latter had faced an eviction in October last year, in which a child had allegedly died.
The policy now awaits a notification by the Delhi government, but sources said Mr. Kejriwal had directed officials to begin work on the projects.
It was also decided that under the first phase, 20 JJ clusters will be beneficiaries of the AAP government, while 23 others will be rehabilitated.
The Aam Aadmi Party government had approved the cut-off date as February 14, 2015 – the day AAP formed the government in Delhi. But it was changed to January 1, 2015, as the Ministry had stated that fresh electoral rolls were out by then. The policy also states that JJ clusters which have come up before January 1, 2006, will not be removed without rehabilitation.
