The Hindu       10.11.2014 

DDA policy to provide relief to 5 lakh displaced people

Over five lakh displaced people staying in DDA properties without official authorisation or on lease by paying damages will soon be benefitted with the land agency working on formulating a policy to regularise such properties.

DDA vice-chairman Balvinder Kumar has initiated the process of formulating a policy for thousands of properties occupied by displaced persons and others from 1940 onwards on the basis of “paying damages” or “leases” in 23 nazul estates of Delhi in areas like Karol Bagh, Paharganj, Anand Parbat, Chuna Mandi, etc.

The DDA said government land falling under these 23 nazul estates, after partition, was mainly occupied by refugees, who settled in these open spaces without official authorisation. These occupants were issued slips known as “damages slips” for using the government land. On constitution of the DDA in 1957, these lands were transferred to the land agency. The number of such properties in 1959 was approximately 18,179.

Over a period of time, these plots were either inherited, subdivided or sold and “damages slips” became the basis of various transactions, i.e., sale mutation etc. and in many cases the transactions were registered also. The “damages”, as per the slips issued, were being collected through Damages Collectors.

The DDA said the number of these properties have now multiplied many times and there are around one lakh families, i.e., about five lakh occupants who are staying in these properties after paying damages and many even without paying any damages. Some of the land in these areas was on leasehold basis and continues to be occupied by such occupants even though the leases have either expired or have been cancelled /determined.

“In order to provide relief to such thousands of unauthorised occupants who have been continuing to occupy government land either without official authorisation or through leases for more than 60 years, a policy is being formulated to regularise such occupancy. For working out the basic guideline, details of the households, their occupants are being collected from the Census House Listing Schedules of 2010-2011, where each structure has been listed along with the status of the owner or the tenant. Help of the National Population Register-2011 and various socio-economic surveys are also being taken to get the exact details,” the DDA said.

The occupants in areas like Karol Bagh, Paharganj, Anand Parbat and Chuna Mandi were issued “damages slips”