CM promises registration of property in illegal colonies soon
REACHING OUT Kejriwal promises water, roads and sewerage too, says AAP will stay true to all its poll promises
NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister reached out to the residents of unauthorised colonies on Sunday, telling them that his government will soon start the process of registration of properties in such colonies.
Speaking at an illegal colony in northeast Delhi’s Karawal Nagar, the chief minister told the gathering that remaining true to the poll promise, his party’s government has started the process of fixing boundaries of such colonies using the latest scientific methods.
“Every government used to play politics with the residents of unauthorised colonies. Before elections, they used to promise to regularize these colonies but never did anything. For the first time, a government is going to the public after winning the election. We have started finalizing the map of four colonies and in one year, we will prepare the map of 895 illegal colonies,” said Kejriwal.
Once the map is approved, the government will start the process of registration.
Kejriwal said that the government will not only regularize the colonies but also provide basic facilities. “We will provide six facilities — water, sewerage, proper drains, roads, street lights and cleanliness,” he added.
The chief minister also said that his government would ask the Centre to release more funds for the development of unauthorised colonies. “I got to know that Delhi pays `65,000 crore as income tax to the Centre every year and in return gets only `325 crore. If they give even `10,000 crore, we will change the face of Delhi and use the money for the development of the colonies,” he added.
Over 50 lakh residents live in 1,650 unauthorised colonies in Delhi. Lakhs of residents in such areas were traditional Congress voters but they shifted loyalties to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in 2013 polls. The move will help the party strengthen its base further.
Government officials said satellite imaging and other scientific techniques would be used for demarcation of boundaries of illegal colonies. Once the revenue department fixes boundaries, the colonies can be transferred to municipal corporations for the approval of the layout.
“This will be followed by sending the maps to the respective municipal corporations for preparation of the layout and then to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for change in land use. The layout plan and land use change will simultaneously be taken up with the authorities concerned, but the registration of properties will not be delayed. The agencies for the demarcation of the boundaries have been identified,” said a government official.
At the meeting, Kejriwal and party MLAs also highlighted other initiatives taken by the AAP government in the past two months.