Ahead of Punjab polls, AAP govt to repair colonies of 1984 riots victims in Tilak Nagar

In July, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal directed the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) to begin work, but the project was on hold due to lack of funds.

Just ahead of the Punjab assembly polls, the Delhi government will start repairing colonies where families of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims live.

The Tilak Vihar area in Tilak Nagar, where several of the families of the victims of the anti-Sikh riots in 1984 live, are in bad shape. The revamp will be done by Delhi government’s DUSIB. (HT Photo)

In July, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal directed the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) to begin work, but the project was on hold due to lack of funds.

Sources said the urban development department did not clear funds for the project. As the election is nearing, the DUSIB has been asked to start repair work using available funds.

“We have invited tenders for repair work in colony in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar. It will cost Rs 70-80 lakh, which we can give. The rest of the work will be taken up next month, when we get funds from the revised estimates of the budget,” said a DUSIB official.

Urban development minister Satyendar Jain told HT the department was asked to start repair work and that the funds would be released soon.

“Politicians have been promising repair work for a long time. But common areas such as public parks in Tilak Vihar (in Tilak Nagar) have never been properly built or repaired. Instead, these have become a dumping ground for malba and garbage,” said Lalu Singh, a steel fixer.

“The situation of these colonies is bad. Last year, we had carried out works using funds from the MLA-LAD pool. But that was limited. Now, since we have special funds, apart from stairs, we will paint the house and repair the roof,” said Tilak Nagar MLA, Jarnail Singh. The locality has the largest colony of the riot victims.

The decision to repair the flats in eight localities was taken in July after it was reported that the common facilities required immediate fixing. Repair work will be carried out in Tilak Vihar, Garhi, Raghubir Nagar, Sangam Park, Jahangir Puri, GT Road Shahdara, Kalkaji and Madipur, which are spread across the city.

Delhi government will provide funds and the initial estimate is R 10 crore. DUSIB has completed the process of surveying these colonies and said that most of them are in a bad shape.