‘Declare 89 rural villages in Delhi as urban ones’

LoP says issue pending for two years

NEW DELHI, 08/05/2017: Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta at Vidhan Sabha in New Delhi on Monday. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Vijender Gupta on Thursday urged Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal to bring in a notification declaring 89 rural villages in the Capital urbanised villages, an issue which he claimed has been pending before the Delhi government for the past two years.

Alleging that the issue had not been taken up so far, leading to the mushrooming of unauthorised colonies in these rural areas, Mr. Gupta said that the North and South Delhi Municipal Corporations had sent proposals regarding the same to the Delhi government for notification under section 507 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, but the matter remains pending.

‘Land under Centre’

“As per the Constitution, the subject of land lies within the jurisdiction of the Central government. Therefore, if the Delhi Chief Minister fails to fulfil this duty, the L-G, being the head of the government, can issue the notification with regard to declaration of 89 rural villages as urbanised villages,” Mr. Gupta said.

He added that the matter has been raised during the Delhi Development Authority’s meetings over the last two months, with the L-G assuring appropriate action in the matter at the earliest. It is high time that this assurance is fulfilled, he said.

“Due to the non-issuance of the pending declaration, the land mafia is fast developing unauthorised colonies. On the one hand, the affected residents are being denied civic services and on the other hand, the land mafia is selling land at exorbitant prices by developing unauthorised colonies. Even Delhi Ministers are involved in these undesirable activities,” Mr. Gupta alleged.