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Fund for illegal colonies remains unused

NEW DELHI: Nearly four million people living in almost 1,500 unauthorised colonies spread over 33 Assembly segments of Delhi are suffering due to lack of water, power, roads and sewer facilities as funds earmarked for their development have been lying unutilised despite having been approved by the Cabinet.

Though in June, the Delhi Government had constituted a board for the development of unauthorised colonies and established a “special fund” with an outlay of Rs 2,800 crores in the 11th Five Year Plan 2007-12 to meet the expenditure on provision of water supply, sewage, roads, drains, sanitation and community services, not a rupee from it has so far been spent on any of the unauthorised colonies.

To top it, while Rs 628 crores had been earmarked for these colonies during the current fiscal, the amount remains unutilised even after the expiry of almost five months of the year. No money has yet been allocated to either the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation, Municipal Corporation of Delhi or the Irrigation and Flood Control Department that have the wherewithal to carry out various development activities.

Incidentally, while Delhi Finance Minister A.K. Walia insists that he has been urging various departments to start the work for the past couple of months, there has been no action on the ground.

Earlier this week a number of MLAs including Ramvir Singh Bidhuri of the Nationalist Congress Party and Mahabal Mishra, Jile Singh Chauhan and Vijay Lochav of the Congress had met Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to take up the matter with her. “We demanded that of the 1,532 unauthorised colonies -- that were there in the aerial survey of 2002 and were found to be having over 50 per cent built up area – those which had come up on private land be provided all the amenities,” said Mr Bidhuri.

Stating that the courts had only objected to provisions in the colonies that had come up on government land, Mr Bidhuri said they constitute only about 2 per cent of the total and should therefore be treated separately.

“The other colonies which house nearly four million people should not be deprived of the facilities because of them.”

Since in various orders passed in the 1990s, the courts had allowed water, electricity, sewer and road facilities in such colonies, the MLA said, the need of the hour is to take up the works expeditiously from the allotted funds. He cautioned that the funds for the current fiscal would lapse if no immediate step was taken.

“However, the Congress would stand to gain a lot if it released the funds and ensures that major development takes place in these colonies that are spread over 33 Assembly segments before the next Assembly elections in the end of 2008,” he said.

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