Kejriwal baffled by bill in Parliament for ownership rights in unauthorised colonies: Delhi BJP

The Delhi BJP on Wednesday said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is "baffled" by tabling of of bill in Parliament for ownership rights to residents of unauthorised colonies in the city and alleged that his claims of development in these settlements are hollow.

Kejriwal earlier spread rumour that no bill was to be tabled in Parliament on unauthorised colonies, now he is claiming that no registries will take place, Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said.

Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had on Tuesday introduced the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies) Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha.

The issue of regularisation of over 1,700 unauthorised colonies in Delhi has ensued a blame game between the ruling AAP and the BJP with Assembly polls round the corner.

On Wednesday, Kejriwal demanded that the Centre should open registry of properties in unauthorised colonies within three days and claimed that his government spent Rs 8,147 crore on development in these colonies in the last five years.

BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Goel challenged Kejriwal to accompany him for a visit of unauthorised colonies and alleged that no development work has been done in these settlements.

"Kejriwal is baffled and hopeless after tabling of the bill in Parliament and is clueless about his next move.

"He is making false claims of development in unauthorised colonies fearing that 40 lakh people living there might vote for the BJP in Assembly elections," Goel said.

The BJP government at the Centre is fulfilling its promise made in 2019 manifesto to regularise unauthorised colonies by providing ownership rights to its residents over their properties, said Vijender Gupta, BJP's Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly.

The Delhi Development Authority is tagging unauthorised colonies and numbering properties there. A website for formalising ownership rights will start functioning from December 16, and all the properties in these colonies will get titles once the process starts, he claimed.