The Hindu   08.08.2012

Way clear to regularise 624 illegal colonies

The path has been cleared for regularisation of 624 unauthorised colonies in the Capital with clearance having been received for them by the Delhi Government from the Archaeological Survey of India, Forest Department, Delhi Development Authority, Revenue Department and Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

Announcing this on Tuesday, Delhi Urban Development Minister A.K. Walia said these colonies are now free from all objections and a final report vis-à-vis their status has also been submitted by the office of the Divisional Commissioner.

This done, Dr. Walia said Delhi was all set to usher in an era of planned development as the term “unauthorised” tagged with many colonies would be abolished immediately upon their regularisation.

Stating that residents of these colonies had been waiting anxiously for regularisation for several decades now, he said it was only through sustained efforts of the Urban Development Department that positive results have been achieved.

The Minister said out of the 624 colonies, 202 are on private land and the remaining on government land.

“The UD Department has taken the all important decision to finally grant recognition to these colonies. The ownership under power of attorney would also be converted formally through registered sale deeds. The owners would also become entitled for loans against their registered properties,’’ he said.

The Minister said the agencies involved in developmental works would also undertake major developmental works in these colonies resulting in substantial improvement in the standard of living of the residents.

He said the civic bodies would be directed to take up works relating to civic amenities on war-footing in these colonies.

Reviewing status

Moreover, he said, following regularisation the legislators would also be able to spend their MLA Local Area Development funds in these colonies.

The Minister said in all 1,639 colonies had applied for regularisation and out of them 1,218 colonies had been issued provisional regularisation certificates in 2008. As for the remaining around 700 colonies, he said the process of regularisation was on.

The Urban Development Department has been reviewing the status on weekly basis and all objections are being cleared through coordinated efforts.

To make a watertight case for these colonies, Dr. Walia said every step is being taken as per the prescribed procedure and nothing is being left to chance. The regularisation move, he claimed, would benefit around 40 lakh people in these colonies.