Unauthorised colonies will be regularised within a year: LG Jung

Regularisation of unauthorised colonies in the national capital has been a ‘populist agenda’ for all local political parties, particularly former chief minister Sheila Dikshit, but for the first time the Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung has come up with a deadline to complete the ‘herculean’ task. 

‘The process of regularising 904 unauthorised colonies has to be complete by March, 2015,’ said a senior IAS officer. To expedite the regularisation process, Jung has grouped the unauthorised colonies into four categories based on various reports from concerned agencies like land, power and sanitation. 

In the first category, 134 unauthorised colonies, which existed even before 2002 and do not require ‘No Objection Certificates’ from Archaeological Survey of India, forest department and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) or any other agencies, has been kept untouched. 

‘The boundary of these colonies has to be finalised by August this year and geo spatial department will complete superimposed maps by September this year,’ sources from Raj Niwas said.

There are 117 colonies in the second category which also existed before 2002 and do not require clearance from ASI, forest department and DDA but have ‘several objections’ like being scattered and affluent. The revenue department has been asked to resolve all such objections by November this year and geospatial department has to complete mapping by December. ‘The local bodies have been asked to finalise it by January, 2015,’ said the officer. The Millennium Post also has a copy of the LG’s order in possession.

The colonies, which require clearance from almost all the departments, are kept in the third category. There are 289 of them and Jung has directed the officials to get clearance from various departments by September this year and also finalise boundaries and mapping by December. 

‘The colonies which were formed after 2002 have been kept under fourth categories and these are 362 such units,’ said the officer. The decision to regularise these colonies has to be decided by October this year. ‘If these colonies are found to be regularised then the entire process has to be completed by April 2015,’ added the officer. 

Interestingly, the Sheila Dikshit government had promised to regularise all of Delhi’s 1,639 unauthorised colonies in 2008. After coming to power, the government gave ‘provisional certificates’ of regularisation to 1,218 colonies, but did not regularise any of them.