Only 14 of 295 illegal colonies in South Delhi to be regularised

Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly V.K. Malhotra on Friday said with various Government agencies approving of a mere 14 colonies from the 295 in South Zone, the regularisation exercise has turned out to be a great hoax.

The BJP leader said the fact that such a miniscule number of colonies have been shown the green flag for regularisation means that the declaration and promises of provisional regularization given out by Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit and Congress president Sonia Gandhi prior to the Delhi Assembly elections were eventually nothing but a lie.

In view of these developments, Prof. Malhotra has petitioned Delhi Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna to call a meeting of the Forest Department, the Archaological Survey of India and senior officers of Delhi Development Authority to resolve the issue.

Incidentally in a verification drive, out of the 295 unauthorised colonies in South Delhi, only 14 were found eligible for regularization. While 178 colonies were found located on forest land, 44 had come up either on Ridge land or land under the possession of the Archaeological Survey of India.

The Ridge Development Board and the DDA had therefore raised objections on regularisation of 47 colonies. The colonies that have been found unfit for regularization include Sangam Vihar in Devli, Green Meadows, Hamdard Colony, Said-ul-Ajab Extension and Shanti Kunj in Chhattarpur, Abul Fazal Enclave in Okhla, Freedom Fighters Colony, Lado Sarai, Budh Vihar in Mehrauli, Aya Nagar extension, Meethapur, Chhattarpur Enclave and Gadaipur.

As for the ASI, it has objected to regularization of Lado Sarai, Begampur, Taimoor Nagar extended abadi, Tuglaqabad, Zakir Nagar, some parts of Sangam Vihar, some portions of Said-ul-Ajab, Batla House, Panchsheel Vihar, Khirki Extension, Okhla Vihar, Noor Nagar in Jamia Nagar, and some parts of Abul Fazal Enclave.

It is pertinent to noted that the guidelines for regularisation lay down that colonies falling in notified area or reserved forest areas will not be considered for regularisation. Similarly, those found violating the provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958 cannot be regularised.