Delhi to seek Centre's nod for development of illegal colonies

With an eye on the assembly polls later this year, Delhi Government today decided to seek the Centre's nod to ease norms for carrying out infrastructure development in around 450 unauthorised colonies, which as per existing norms do not qualify for basic facilities.
As per norms, unauthorised colonies, which had come up prior to March 31, 2002, and which had 50 per cent built-up area as on February 8, 2007, were eligible for regularisation.
A meeting of the Delhi Cabinet, presided over by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, decided to seek permission from the Union Urban Development Ministry to carry out developmental works in those unauthorised colonies which have fulfilled the condition 50 per cent built-up area now.

The Cabinet has also agreed to the proposal of the Urban Development Ministry for regularising a number of affluent colonies such as Sainik Farm and given its nod to a scheme for conferring ownership rights to residents of resettlement colonies.
Briefing the media after the cabinet meeting, Dikshit said her government was committed to regularise all the unauthorised colonies in the city and develop them on par with other colonies.
Delhi Government had regularised 895 unauthorised colonies out of 1,639 such settlements with certain riders in September last year paving the way for their development on par with other areas in the city.

It had issued provisional regularisation certificates to over 1,600 unauthorised colonies, home to around 60 lakh people, ahead of assembly polls in 2008.

The then Dikshit government, while distributing the certificates, had promised to regularise the colonies if Congress came to power for the third term.
After the Congress' defeat in municipal polls in April last year, Dikshit had asked all concerned departments to expedite the regularisation process.
The Chief Minister, who underwent a surgery for sinusitis on Friday at the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, was discharged from the hospital this morning.