Residents of over 65 colonies in Delhi still await ownership rights

NEW DELHI: While residents of many illegal colonies were conferred ownership rights for their properties under PM-UDAY scheme some time back, residents of 69 ‘affluent colonies’ in the city, including Sainik Farm, Mahendru Enclave, Anantram Dairy, etc. are still waiting for it.

With the municipal elections slated to be held early next year, RWAs of these areas have refused to support any political party if they failed to take up their cause.

The RWAs have formed a collective to pursue the matter of getting ownership rights with the Centre, lieutenant governor and Delhi Development Authority. Recently, the group called a meeting to discuss future steps before seeking a meeting with the LG and DDA officials after August 15.

“In December 2019, the Centre gave ownership rights to residents of 1,797 unauthorised colonies. But even after two years, there has been no clarity on the future of 69 colonies. We have already written to the Prime Minister’s office, housing and urban affairs ministry and DDA for including us in PM Uday Yojna,” said Raman Aggarwal, representative of these colonies and resident of Sainik Farm.

Hardeep Bhalla, president of Western Avenue Residential Welfare Association at Sainik Farm, said that most of these colonies are located on private agricultural land.

The resident further claimed that by dilly-dallying on the issue, the government is losing out on revenue. “All that the government has to do is to add a slab for plots that are bigger than 250 sq.m,” Bhalla added.

Vani Aggarwal, general secretary of the New RWA Chattarpur Phase-II, said that in the absence of home ownership rights, residents are uncertain about the future and the areas are also lacking development.

There was no response from DDA on the issue.