A day after Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia accused Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, who heads the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), of allotting a land earmarked for a school to the BJP for building party office, the DDA said the land belonged to and was allotted by Land and Development Office (L& DO) in November 2014, and that the proposal for change in land use was in the know of the AAP’s elected members.
The DDA on Wednesday claimed while it has changed the land use of many acres of land to support social sectors such as education on the request of the Delhi government, ‘not much progress in construction has taken place in more than 40 sites already allotted to the GNCTD for schools’. The DDA was responding to the two-page letter written by Mr. Sisodia to the L-G accusing him of allotting the land meant for a nursery school for building the BJP party office and asked him as to what compelled him to take such a decision.
To this, the DDA said, “The land falls under the local jurisdiction of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation. The DDA meeting had processed only the change in land use on the request of L&DO for inviting public objections/suggestions in accordance with the DDA Act. This agenda item was circulated well in advance among all the elected members of the authority, which included AAP elected members.” To support its pro-social sector face, the DDA also said, “In the last couple of years, change in land use proposals pertaining to social sectors, especially education, health, solid waste management, old age homes, and night shelters have been processed by the DDA. These proposals were on the request of the government of NCT of Delhi. In fact 10 such proposals of health and education sectors, measuring about 100 acres, have been approved by the DDA. Also, about 95 acres of land has been approved for solid waste management.” Besides, the DDA said it has provided additional land to the Delhi government for expansion of health and education facilities, including about 13 acres to seven senior secondary schools and about 18 acres to 14 health facilities such as dispensaries and hospitals like Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya.
