1200 unauthorised Delhi colonies legalised

Top officials said the Delhi Development Authority,which functions under administrative control of UD Ministry,issued a notification yesterday authorising the city government to finalise the boundaries of the colonies having more than 50 per cent built up area as per aerial image of 2007.

“The complex issue of regularisation of unauthorised colonies in Delhi is set to become simple and smooth,” said an official. The entire regularisation process had slowed down as government faced lot of difficulties in finalising the boundaries on the basis of 2002 images.

Lack of developmental work in unauthorised colonies,home to around 40 lakh people and which were traditional Congress stronghold,was identified as a major reason for Congress’ defeat in the municipal polls in the city last month.

Delhi government had issued provisional regularisation certificates (PRCs) to over 1,200 unauthorised colonies ahead of assembly polls in 2008. The then Dikshit government,while distributing the certificates,had promised to regularise the colonies if Congress came to power for the third term.

However,not a single colony has been regularised so far.

The process slowed down considerably last year following allegations that some “non existent” as well as “ineligible” colonies were given provisional regularisation certificates flouting norms.

Urban Development Minister A K Walia said the decision to consider aerial map of 2007 is aimed at ensuring inclusion of a large portion of the area left out by the 2002 aerial survey where construction took place between 2002 and 2007.

As per norms,unauthorised colonies,which came up prior to March 31,2002 and which had 50 per cent built-up area as on February 8,2007,were eligible for PRCs.

After fixing the boundaries of colonies,city government will forward the layout plan of the colonies to the concerned local body.

Simultaneously,the city government will issue orders regularising the colonies after finalising boundaries and completing other formalities. Officials said thereafter DDA will make change in land use.

If boundary of a colony happens to run along drains,roads,railway lines and by-lanes as interpreted in the satellite images,then it will be fixed along the physical infrastructure.

Dikshit and Walia today thanked Nath for relaxing the norms,saying that the pace of regularisation of the unauthorised colonies will now get the “desired momentum”.

The colonies were given PRCs in 2008 as per guidelines issued by the Ministry in 2007 and in accordance with the regulations notified by DDA on March 24,2008.

The government had freezed construction activities in over 1,200 colonies after they were given provisional regularisation certificates in 2008.

Officials said several Resident Welfare Associations had submitted the layout plans of their colonies based on the ground situation as on February 8,2007 while boundaries were drawn by Delhi State Spatial Data Infrastructure (DSSDI) based on satellite images of 2002.

The differences in ground reality and satellite images had created lot of hurdles in finalising the boundaries of the colonies.