40L living in unauthorised colonies to get ownership rights

New Delhi: You may call it a pre- Diwali bonanza for lakhs of people residing in unauthorised colonies of the national capital or a pre-poll strategy of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government at the Centre to bring maximum votes in the upcoming Delhi assembly election.

The proposal of regularisation of 1,797 unauthorised colonies that figured in the manifestos of every political party was on Wednesday approved by the Union Cabinet, which is chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The decision that has been taken three months ahead of the assembly elections would benefit about 40 lakh people residing in these unauthorised colonies as they would get the ownership rights over their properties.

"Ownership rights have been given to nearly 40 lakh people living in unauthorised colonies in Delhi. The cabinet has taken this decision today," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said while announcing the decisions taken by the cabinet.

"Today the population of Delhi is over two crore. There has been a long-standing demand to do something about unauthorised colonies. The last attempt to do something was in 2008. There are unsafe structures that have been constructed, and because they are unauthorised, the Central government cannot provide services there. This is the most farsighted and progressive step that has been taken by the Central government," said Hardeep Singh Puri, the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has hailed the decision of the Centre. Kejriwal said, "The road map for it was based on a proposal sent by the Delhi government in July and that the Centre should start the process immediately."

The Centre has taken an important decision on the long-pending demand of Delhiites, he said, adding, "The Delhi government is ready to be a part of the regularisation of unauthorised colonies. We invested have Rs 6,000 crore towards putting in place several amenities in these colonies over the last four years without waiting for any such move from the Centre."

"We had given three to four suggestions to the Centre for the regularisation of such colonies such as fixing January 1, 2019, as the cut-off date," Kejriwal said.