BJP & AAP fight over unauthorised colonies

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri has written to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying the whole process of regularising unauthorised colonies in Delhi was stalled due to “apathy and inaction” of the AAP government, which outrightly rejected his claim.

In a three- page letter to Mr Kejriwal, Mr Puri asked him to advise his colleagues not to spread “misinformation” on this issue and instead, focus on completing the survey of these colonies, required for their regularisation.

Hitting back at Mr Puri, a Delhi government spokesperson claimed that the BJP- led central government had been sitting on the file of regularisation of unauthorised colonies “since last two years”. “The central government doesn’t like unauthorised colonies in Delhi, that’s why a chargesheet was recently filed against Delhi urban development minister Satyendar Jain who was regularising these colonies,” he claimed.

There are over 1,650 unauthorised colonies in the national capital where migrant population plays a vital role in deciding the fate of any political party during elections. In the letter, the housing and urban affairs minister cited news reports involving a charge sheet against Mr Jain as he was regularising these colonies.

Mr Puri also cited another report of Mr Kejriwal alleging that if the BJP comes to power again at the Centre, it will “demolish” unauthorised colonies. “I have allowed sufficient time to lapse in the hope that there would be some clarification from your side at the patent misinformation being spread. Since, that is not forthcoming, I will put on record the facts as they are,” he said.

The Union minister alleged it also appeared to be a concerted “smear campaign” unleashed to divert attention from the real issue and “mislead” Delhiites instead of making efforts to regularise all unauthorised colonies as per the guidelines issued by Centre in 2008.