Date:10/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/10/stories/2008041052830400.htm

New Delhi

BJP picks holes in regularisation move

Staff Reporter

‘Chief Minister, Union Minister mislead people’

‘Application forms do not comply with DDA terms’
‘Several applications filed for the same colony’

NEW DELHI: Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday accused the Chief Minister and the Union Urban Development Minister of misleading the people over regularisation of unauthorised colonies.

“The Chief Minister and the Union Urban Development Minister have given many false assurances about regularisation of unauthorised colonies in the past. If they are serious about regularising these colonies within six months, then the Union and the Delhi Governments should file an affidavit in the Supreme Court,” said Dr. Vardhan.

Stating that the Delhi Development Authority had received 1,477 applications for regularisation, Dr. Vardhan said: “In its preliminary scrutiny, the DDA found that not a single application had fully complied with the conditions containing full details. There are serious deficiencies in the application forms. The Delhi Government had to fix the boundaries of each colony. But without doing so, the Government has forwarded the defective files to the DDA.”

He said for one colony several applications had been filed. “Some applications contain the same registration numbers. The DDA is facing difficulty in considering the applications. In some of the CDs annexed with application forms, the content has been erased. Some of the colonies have submitted videos in place of CDs. The details submitted are not according to the advertisements.”

Dr. Vardhan said just before the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections in February 2007, Union Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy had announced that all unauthorised colonies would be regularised within 90 days. “This information was also provided to Parliament. Besides the Minister, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken have on numerous occasions assured the residents of unauthorised colonies that their colonies would be regularised,” he added.

Accusing the Chief Minister of misleading Delhiites, Dr. Vardhan said: “Ms. Dikshit has said that the Union Government has by an Ordinance authorised the Delhi Government to regularise the unauthorised colonies. The Centre has not issued any such Ordinance. ”