Delhi: Shift of gram sabha land to DDA to be fast-tracked

NEW DELHI: With Delhi Development Authority yet to complete survey of the gram sabha land of urbanised villages in the absence of revenue records, lieutenant governor VK Saxena has asked Delhi government’s revenue department to provide required details to DDA at the earliest to help it complete the
exercise by February 2024. In a recent meeting to oversee the progress of the handing over of the gram sabha land and related funds to DDA, Saxena also directed the revenue department to ensure that any parcel of gram sabha land, which may still be under Delhi government’s jurisdiction, is transferred to the Authority.

According to officials, Delhi government’s urban development department notified 89 villages as ‘urbanised’ under the Delhi Development Act in January 2019 and 79 villages were notified as ‘urban’ in
September 2020. With urbanization, the entire revenue estate of these villages, including the abadi (residential) area and the gram sabha land, was placed at the DDA’s disposal on “as is where is” basis. Nearly 13,000 acres of land and Rs 960 crore funds have been transferred to DDA, to be used for welfare and infrastructure projects. Saxena recently launched ‘Dilli Gramodaya Abhiyan’ to give a major infra boost to the urbanised villages, upgrade the landscape, and bring civic services at par with other parts of the city.

However, to protect its land from encroachment, DDA required the records of vacant land and built-up
area for which it initiated a survey. “Of 165 villages where a survey was to be done, the DDA had completed the task in 122 when it realised that the revenue department had not marked the reference
points for verification,” said an official.
“Now the verification of the survey of 9 villages has been completed and the exercise in the remaining 156 will have to be done by February 2024,” the official added. The revenue department will also have to provide the details of all cases under section 81 of the Delhi Land Reforms Act, which prevents the diversion of land for any other purpose in rural villages, to the DDA.

A large number of cases, where the agricultural land was used for residential and commercial purposes, were pending in the courts, said officials, adding that the department was also directed to handover remaining gram sabha land of these villages to DDA.