Centre will do 'something' about unauthorised colonies in Delhi: Puri

Amid demands for regularisation of unauthorised colonies in Delhi, Union Housing Minister Hardeep Singh Puri Wednesday said the Centre will do "something" about these areas.

He did not elaborate on the steps being taken by the government.

Hitting out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Puri alleged that he was holding unauthorised colonies to "ransom".

There was no immediate reaction from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on the union minister's allegation.

The indication by Puri comes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Last month, Puri had written to Kejriwal, saying that the whole process of regularising unauthorised colonies in Delhi was stalled due to "apathy and inaction" of the AAP government, which vehemently rejected his claim.

Addressing a press conference, the Union minister hit out at Kejriwal and accused him of "feeding the citizens of Delhi with a completely false narrative on unauthorised colonies".

"We will go ahead and do something about the unauthorised colonies. I cannot go into further details, but I think you should watch what we do...

"He (Kejriwal) is holding unauthorised colonies to ransom," the Union minister said.

There are over 1,650 unauthorised colonies in the national capital where migrant population plays a vital role in deciding the fate of any political party during elections.

Puri alleged that the AAP government was spending "thousand of crores" on advertisements in newspapers to glorify "yet-to-start" development works in the unauthorised colonies.

In the letter to the chief minister in February, Puri had cited news reports involving a charge sheet against Delhi Urban Development Minister Satyendra Jain as he was regularising these colonies.

He had also cited another media report in which Kejriwal alleged that if the BJP comes to power again at the Centre, it will "demolish" unauthorised colonies.

"I have allowed sufficient time to lapse in the hope that there would be some clarification from your side at the patent misinformation being spread. Since, that is not forthcoming, I will put on record the facts as they are," Puri had said in the letter.