Centre, Delhi spar over regularisation of illegal colonies
NEWDELHI: Political bickering has begun over regularisation of unauthorised colonies in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
Housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday accused the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi of delaying in regularisation process.
Speaking at an event to launch a web portal for land pooling, Puri said the Delhi government had sought two more years to complete regularisation. “Thanks to the policy for the Delhi government, we have not been able to regularise the colonies. The local government has again sought two years to complete the process,” Puri said.
The minister said a committee was founded under the housing and urban affairs secretary (Durga Shankar Mishra) in 2017 to expedite the process by resolving all issues with the local government.
“The Delhi government had then said they need two years to deal with the issues. We are trying to solve the problem but the local government is not on board. And they blame the central government,” Puri said.
The AAP government in Delhi hit back at the Union minister , and blamed the Centre for the delay.
“As per records, the Delhi government had approved and sent the file to the Centre two years back,” said the Delhi government’s media advisor.
As elections near, the AAP government is on an overdrive to inaugurate development projects in unauthorised colonies. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is also targeting the ruling party in Delhi by raking up the regularisation of unauthorised colonies, considered AAP’S vote bank.