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Residents of the 69 ‘affluent’ colonies call Centre’s move non-inclusive
New Delhi
New Delhi
While giving its nod to the proposal of conferring property ownership and transfer rights to residents of unauthorised colonies in Delhi, the Union cabinet on Wednesday excluded 69 “affluent” colonies from the list. Residents of these colonies, which include upscale neighbourhoods such as Sainik Farms, Mahendru Enclave and Anant Ram Dairy, criticised the government’s decision calling it “non-inclusive”.
More examples of the colonies
Though, in a press conference, Union urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri indicated that in the coming days the central government will come up with a plan for the excluded colonies too, the residents expressed concerns over potential penalties that can be levied on them if they are included in the list of colonies to be regularised.
“The decision is not inclusive at all. Unless these colonies are included in the list, the residents can’t do any construction or even renovate their houses. Such activities potentially attract heavy fines by the civic agencies. Why should the residents continue to bear that?” said Devinder Singh, a resident of Mahendru Enclave in north Delhi.
Singh, a businessman, had purchased a house in the locality in 1984 and in the next few years, he said, large parts of the neighbourhood got water connections, sewer lines and concrete roads. He said that a part of the neighbourhood was notified as “regularised colony” in 1990 but there was some confusion that followed. Meanwhile, the colony kept expanding.
“Technically, parts of the colony that came up later would be unauthorised. But, in 1998, the whole of Mahendru Enclave was wrongfully listed as an unauthorised colony,” said Singh. He further said, “Now, the major concern is that the government will impose heavy penalty over and above the percentage cost to be imposed on circle rates in these areas in order to confer ownership and transfer rights to the residents.”
Ramesh Dugar of south Delhi’s Sainik Farm expressed similar concerns.
“The government cannot take from us the right to live with dignity just on the ground of this colony being affluent. We can’t do simple repairs or any construction in our houses,” said Dugar, who is the convener of an area development committee and had filed a plea in the Delhi High Court in 2015 for regularisation of all unauthorised colonies in Delhi.
The process of regularisation of an unauthorised colony includes conferring property ownership and transfer rights.
Dugar further said, “The high court had clearly said that no colony should be singled out [for the regularisation purpose] only because the residents are affluent people. We are now waiting for the next court hearing on November 22 .”
