The Indian Express 30.08.2012
Amnesty for 700 more colonies to take 6 months
The decision to notify 917 colonies as regularised, which was to be done on Wednesday, has been put off till later this week.
Delhi government said the process of sending the file to
Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna’s office had been delayed due to
procedural matters.
“The file for notifying regularisation of 917 unauthorised
colonies couldn’t be sent on Wednesday for Lieutenant-Governor’s
approval because of some procedural requirements. It will be sent on
Thursday now,’’ Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said.
These colonies house close to 40 lakh people and the civic
agencies are expected to take up work to provide basic infrastructure in
these colonies.
The chief minister also said they would now begin work on speeding up regularisation of the remaining 700 colonies.
“Regarding the colonies that are yet to be regularised, our
government has written to Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath the
other such colonies that are already in existence should also be
regularised. After all, how can we forcibly remove them now? We are
confident the other colonies will also be regularised,” Dikshit said.
Dikshit also met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday to
convey her gratitude for allowing regularisation of unauthorised
colonies.
Meanwhile, senior government officials claimed that the process
of regularising the remaining colonies would take another six months.
“There are around 157 colonies, which are located on forest land and
another 47 colonies, which are located near protected monuments. Besides
this, some colonies are scattered and do not have the built-up area
required for them to be regularised. We are looking into these issues
and are trying to figure out how best to resolve them,’’ a senior
government official said.
“We will hold meetings with Ministry of Environment and Forests to
see if the land on which these colonies have come up can be denotified
as forest land. Of the 47 colonies which are located near protected
monuments around 15 have come up in the regulated zone (up to 300 m from
the monument) and we will be seeking approval from the National
Monument Authority for allowing regularisation of these colonies,’’ said
the official.
The regularisation of affluent colonies like Sainik Farms, Anand
Ram Dairy and Mahendru Enclave will also be taken up. “The Centre has
also agreed in principle to a government proposal to grant ownership in
45 resettlement colonies, which were developed in the 1970s,’’ said the
official.
