The Hindu : New Delhi News : ‘Delhi Govt. making false claims’

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Tuesday, Jan 01, 2008
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New Delhi

‘Delhi Govt. making false claims’

Staff Reporter

Betraying the residents of slums, accuses BJP

“Inviting fresh applications and layout plans is cruel”
“Widespread corruption in the name of regularisation”

NEW DELHI: Saket MLA Vijay Jolly, who last week in the Delhi Assembly raised the issue of the Delhi Government placing misleading advertisements about regularisation of 1,539 unauthorised colonies, accused it on Monday of betraying the residents of these colonies.

Addressing a press conference, the BJP MLA said the Delhi Government had chosen a path contrary to the much publicised claim of Congress president Sonia Gandhi about working for the interests of the “aam aadmi” or common man. He said the poor people living in these backward colonies had been taken for a ride during the past nine years of Congress rule in Delhi.

“The Delhi Government has turned a deaf ear to the woes and plight of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and other backward class people living in appalling civic conditions in these colonies and has still not managed to get these colonies regularised after making so many promises,” he charged.

Mr. Jolly said the Delhi Government had not only overlooked the notification and revised the guidelines of its own United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre, it had also gone ahead and issued advertisements seeking more documents from the people for regularising these colonies when actually none were required.

“Inviting fresh applications and layout plans is cruel. It is wasteful expenditure when the Delhi Government already has all the data available with it. Why and where is the need to invite fresh proposals,” he asked.

The MLA alleged widespread corruption taking place in the name of regularisation of colonies: “The RWAs are being forced to cough up thousands of rupees by unscrupulous agents or touts present in the Urban Development Office at the Delhi Secretariat at the time of accepting fresh applications for regularisation.”

The BJP legislator charged that the Delhi Government also wrongly appropriated the credit for the revised guidelines defining private land and government land and also for de-notification of land in Delhi under Sections 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act.

‘No compensation paid’

He said at a meeting held in the Chamber of then Delhi Chief Secretary R. Narayanaswami on June 25, 2007, he had pointed out that in cases where Sections 4 & 6 had been notified but where no compensation was paid to the farmers and the Government had not taken possession of the land, the Lieutenant-Governor was empowered to take a decision on the recommendation of the Delhi Government.

Mr. Jolly said his assertion was accepted with promise of an early action but the Delhi Government moved at a snail’s pace and it took another six months to clear the issue and claim undue credit for a new definition of private and government land in the Capital and to also announce development works in these unauthorised colonies.

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