Jagmohan plans strategy to heed SC orders

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 7

The Union Urban Development Minister, Mr. Jagmohan, will hold a meeting with senior officials of the Delhi Government and local agencies to chalk out a strategy to implement the orders of the Supreme Court for closing down all polluting industries in the non-conforming areas within four weeks.

The Supreme Court had appointed the Urban Development Ministry as the nodal agency on September 12 and today asked it to supervise the closure and shifting of industries in the residential areas and also given it the liberty to approach the Apex Court if it encountered any difficulty in securing implementation of the order.

Appealing to the people to understand the need for accepting the Court orders, Mr. Jagmohan asked the affected persons to cooperate with the implementing agencies while assuring them that all possible efforts would be made to redress their grievances at the earliest by giving them land at alternate places.

The Urban Development Ministry had, in an affidavit, submitted before the Court on November 27, said that since the implementation machinery vested with the Delhi Government and the local agencies, and taking into account the experience of the last two months, no effective role could be played by the Nodal Agency.

In its affidavit, the Union Government had also requested the Apex Court to give some more time for relocation of industries. The Court has, in substance, agreed to this request and orally directed the Additional Solicitor-General, Mr. Kirit Rawal to ask the nodal agency to prepare a plan indicating the time-frame in which the non-polluting industries from non-conforming areas could be shifted.

Reacting to ``shifting blame on the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and through it to the Union Government'' by the Delhi Government, Mr. Jagmohan said it was untenable and the point had been raised in the affidavit also it was said that if any work had been held up on account of formal clearance from the DDA, the Chief Minister could have raised the matter with the Lt. Governor who is the DDA ex-officio chairman and plays the coordinating role between it and the Delhi Government.

Moreover, the point had never been raised in any of the affidavits filed by the Delhi Government before the Supreme Court. Also, the Delhi Government has large departments dealing with lands, buildings and urban affairs and the day-to-day general executive work is handled at the local level while the Union Ministry largely deals with the policy and Parliamentary work, Mr. Jagmohan said.

The Minister pointed out that blaming the DDA for delay in acquiring alternate land subsequent shifting of industries was an ``afterthought'' since the Delhi Chief Minister is the chairperson of the Consultative Committee of the DDA and three Delhi MLAs are members of the DDA, none of whom brought the matter to the notice of the Court.''

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