L-G Saxena chairs meeting on regularisation of unauthorised colonies in Delhi

New Delhi : Days after the Parliament passed the NCTD Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2023, Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena chaired a meeting with the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary (PWD), Vice-Chairman of DDA, MCD Commissioner, and other senior officials to take stock of the progress and status of works related to regularisation of unauthorised colonies and rehabilitation of the slum dwellers under the PM-UDAY and PMAY (Urban) schemes, respectively.

Saxena asked the officers to give specific timelines with regard to complete implementation of PM-UDAY, PMAY and the land pooling policy of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

Officials at the Raj Bhavan said that during the meeting, the L-G was apprised about the ambiguity in the boundaries of the unauthorised colonies, repeated extension of cut off dates and uncertainty in notified slum clusters, which have kept the issue hanging for long, finally leading the Centre to formulate the PM-UDAY and PMAY schemes in 2019.

However, immediately after that, with the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, work could not be undertaken in full swing.

Officials said that Saxena expressed surprise and concern at the fact that this Act in different versions had been in operation since December 2006, and yet the matter remained hanging, notwithstanding the constraints caused by the pandemic.

Saxena also directed the officials to come up with a concrete time-bound plan of action for registration, verification and subsequent regularisation of the unauthorised colonies and stressed that the process of doing the same needed to be made simple and hassle-free.

The officials said that the L-G also warned that no dereliction or corruption in this regard will be tolerated.

With regard to the rehabilitation of the slums, the L-G directed the DDA to immediately identify alternate sites within a radius of 5 km where in situ rehabilitation was not possible as per law and slum dwellers be rehabilitated to a dignified life in flats or houses that have already been constructed under various schemes.

The L-G also instructed the officials to ensure that the entire plan is put in place within a month and concrete action should start immediately.

He stressed that all tasks should be completed at least a year earlier than the outer limit of 2026, provided by the Act recently passed in the Parliament.