The notification on regularisation of 895 unauthorised colonies, on which Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna had raised some queries and the Sheila Dikshit Government had subsequently filed its replies, is now finally expected next week, Delhi Urban Development Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely told The Hindu on Friday.
It was in September 2012 that Mr. Khanna had given conditional approval for regularisation of these colonies. The Lieutenant-Governor had then directed the Delhi Government to strictly follow the eligibility criteria and to ensure that these colonies had not come up on forest land or near protected monuments.
Mr. Lovely said: “The Lieutenant-Governor had raised several queries but we have answered them all to his satisfaction. The notification is now expected within a few days, sometime early next week.”
While granting the approval, Mr. Khanna had also asked the Delhi Government to take the help of professional architects for preparation of layout plans.
Mr. Lovely said “the preparation of layout plans always follows the regularisation process”. He, however, accused the BJP-led Delhi Municipal Corporations of delaying the process with an eye on the Assembly elections.
“The layout plans have nothing to do with regularisation but the civic bodies are delaying them. The corporations are mandated to finalise the layout plans on the principle of ‘as-is-where-is’ basis within the boundaries. The purpose of layout plans is to make ground for sanction of building plans. In case, the corporations are not willing to finalise the layout plans, they must give guarantee in writing that building plans would be sanctioned in such colonies,” he added.
The Minister said a sum of Rs.1 crore each was also released by the Delhi Government to all the three civic bodies for preparation of the layout plans. “Since the plan for one colony costs about Rs. 50,000, this was enough for nearly 600 colonies. Though it is the job of the civic bodies to prepare these plans, they have been dragging their feet on it.”
Due to this, Mr. Lovely said, it is only the people who are suffering as the layout plans are to enable the residents to get them passed for their properties and to raise loans on the properties. Moreover, once the layout plans are in place, the civic bodies can also charge house tax; so with the delay, they are causing their own loss.”
Mr. Lovely criticised the three civic bodies for creating obstacles in the preparation of the layout plans. He said while the Delhi Government has worked hard for the regularisation of the colonies, the BJP has shown its lack of concern for the people living in them. “The civic bodies are under the wrong impression that layout plans are to be approved for 312 colonies on private land. The Delhi Government has mandated that the process is to be completed in respect of all 895 such colonies.”
