NEW DELHI: Calling the Bill introduced in Lok Sabha to regularise unauthorized colonies in Delhi a "huge fraud", the AAP on Tuesday demanded that residents of such areas should get registry of their houses before the assembly elections.
Polls in the national capital are due early next year.
The Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) comments came as the BJP-led central government has planned to give registry to some residents of these colonies before the polls and to others after the assembly elections.
The National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies) Bill, 2019, was introduced by Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in the Lower House.
"The question is, who will be these 100 people? And what is the fault of millions of people living in unauthorized colonies of Delhi who are awaiting registry for several decades?
"Why shouldn't they also be provided with the registry? This makes it clear that the BJP is also tracing the footsteps of the Congress," the AAP said in a statement, referring to media reports that 100 people will get the registry before the polls.
The party said the Congress had distributed provisional certificates in a similar manner just before the 2008 election.
"The BJP is going to hoodwink the people with a symbolic handover of registry for 100 people. It is clear that the BJP has no intention to provide registry and this is just an election gimmick," it said.
The AAP believes that this Bill is a "huge fraud in the name of regularising unauthorized colonies of Delhi", the party said.
"The BJP is trying to mislead the public before the upcoming elections. The law does not mean anything for the people if it does not lead to the registry of their homes reaching their hands. Delhi's people have been waiting for their registry, not a law," the AAP said.
The bill seeks to provide a legal framework to grant ownership rights to people living in unauthorized colonies.
"Symbolism will not work, otherwise people will believe they are being taken for a ride. The demand of the AAP is that the BJP should respect the decades-long wait of the people and provide registry in the hands of all residents before the elections," the party said, demanding that every resident of unauthorized colonies in Delhi should have registry documents in their hands before the elections.
The proposal to grant ownership rights is applicable to 1,797 identified unauthorized colonies spread over 175 square-km of the national capital inhabited by people from lower-income groups.
The decision is politically significant as it will benefit millions of poor migrants who hold the key to the assembly election due early next year and had backed the AAP in large numbers in the 2015 Delhi polls.
The Union Cabinet had approved the Bill on November 20.
Last week, Puri had said that people living in unauthorized colonies in the national capital would be able to apply for ownership rights starting December 16.