Slums established before cut-off to be rehabilitated: Govt

In a major decision on Tuesday, the Delhi government decided to rehabilitate all the slums or Jhuggi Jhopri (JJ) clusters in Delhi which have come up till February 14, 2015, the day Delhi Chief Minister and his Cabinet took oath of the office in Ramlila Ground. The government, however, decided not to allow any <g data-gr-id="40">J J</g> cluster in the city which has come up after the cut-off date.

“The cut-off date for the eligibility for rehabilitation and relocation of J J clusters in the city would now be February 14, 2015. This is in suppression of the earlier cut-off date of June 4, 2009,”said a spokesperson of <g data-gr-id="33">the Delhi </g>government.

The decision was taken in a meeting of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia. The board meeting also thoroughly discussed Delhi Slum Rehabilitation & Relocation Policy, 2015 for <g data-gr-id="39">J J</g> clusters.

According to sources, the decision will benefit around 630 <g data-gr-id="37">J J</g> clusters in the city and lakhs of poor people living in those slums. 

The government has also provided protection to these <g data-gr-id="36">J J</g> clusters against demolition except in exceptional circumstances. “The main focus of the policy would be in-situ rehabilitation of the slums in Delhi. The relocation will be only in exceptional cases involving court order, such as in cases where the cluster has encroached a street, road, footpath or a park, or the encroached land is required by the land owning agency for some specific public project,” he added.

The government also decided to offer flats constructed under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to registered, wait-listed applicants of the 1985 Special Registration Scheme which was launched by the DDA in 1985 for residents of notified slum areas like J J re-settlement colonies, slum rehabilitation colonies, unauthorised colonies and urban villages.

“These flats would, however, be offered to these applicants at revised rates. This announcement would benefit more than 20,000 applicants who have been waiting for 30 years,” added a senior officer of DUSIB. 

He further added that the rate of interest to be charged on delayed payments has been reduced from 12 per cent to seven per cent for a period of three months as a one-time Amnesty Measure which is likely to benefit more than 2,400 poor people of the flats allotted under the Special Registration Scheme, 1985, under Hire Purchase category.