Opp blames govt for stalled development work in colonies

The issue of unauthorised colonies yet again rocked the assembly with the opposition members trading charges that the Delhi government had intentionally stopped development work in about 285 unauthorised colonies.

The issue of unauthorised colonies yet again rocked the assembly with the opposition members trading charges that the Delhi government had intentionally stopped development work in about 285 unauthorised colonies.

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BJP members Mohan Singh Bisht and SCL Gupta said the government stopped works in certain unauthorised colonies - which were given provisional regularisation certificates in 2008 - because those colonies fall in BJP-ruled assembly segments. "Some colonies in my constituency of Sangam Vihar were given provisional certificates. But there is no development taking place in those colonies," said Gupta, MLA from Sangam Vihar.

The development work in 285 unauthorised colonies was stopped when the issue of colonies which were given provisional regularisation certificate despite not fulfilling the criteria came to light.

The BJP MLAs asked chief minister Sheila Dikshit to intervene as provisional certificates were issued to 1,639 colonies by Dikshit along with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

"The issue is very sensitive and development in unauthorised colonies is long overdue. There is lot of expectation from the government from lakhs of people living in these colonies. The development work should not stop," speaker Yoganand Shastri said.

Interestingly, while the opposition members targeted urban development minister Ashok Kumar Walia and alleged that the development work was stopped at his behest, the decision in this regard was taken much before he was given the charge of the department. The decision to stop the development work was taken in the meeting of the UD department on November 18 and the order was issued on November 29. Walia was given charge of UD department on December 4.