Kejriwal slams govt for not listing Bill on unauthorised Delhi colonies

A day after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accused the BJP of not listing a Bill to regularise the unauthorised colonies in the national capital in the winter session of the Parliament despite making promises, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday questioned the intention of the Centre on the issue and said that he will ensure that people living in such colonies get registry papers.

Attacking the BJP-led Central government for not listing the Bill, Kejriwal claimed that pressure from the Delhi government forced the Centre to pass the Bill in the Union Cabinet, "but they're delaying the process once again".

Speaking to the media, he said that on November 12, 2015, Delhi government passed a proposal to regularise the unauthorised colonies in Delhi and sent it to the Union government.

"For the last four years, the Delhi government continued to put immense pressure on the Union government to clear the proposal. We have always said that their intent is suspect," the Chief Minister said.

He accused the Union government of making irrelevant excuses for not clearing the proposal.

"In 2015, we had used satellite maps to demarcate the unauthorised colonies in the proposal. But they rejected the use of satellite maps and asked us to conduct a TSM survey, which required five years. Interestingly, now the Union government has accepted the use of satellite maps for demarcation purpose.

"After continuous pressure mounted by the AAP government and the people of Delhi, the Centre has announced the regularisation process just before the Assembly elections. But not listing it in the government's agenda for the winter session of the Parliament exposes their true intention clearly," he added.

Kejriwal also said that he wanted to assure the people of Delhi that "just like we forced them to pass our CCTV file and the Mohalla Clinic file, we will force the Centre to regularise the unauthorised colonies at the earliest."

Calling it his responsibility to ensure that people of unauthorised colonies immediately get registry papers and ownership rights from the Centre, he told the people living in the unauthorised colonies not to believe anyone until they actually get the registry papers.

"We have already been misled once with provisional certificates. Now they are trying website numbers. But only Kejriwal will ensure that you get your registry papers," he said.

On being asked if his party will raise this issue in the Parliament, Kejriwal said, "There will be a mass movement for this now. We will take it up in the Parliament, on the streets, wherever required."

Last month, the Union Cabinet decided to give ownership rights to 40 lakh people living in unauthorised colonies across the national capital. The Cabinet said a Bill in this regard may be introduced in the Parliament during the winter session, which commenced on Monday.