NEW DELHI: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has issued tenders for construction of 40,000 low cost houses in 32 slum camps across the national capital, informed Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta. At a press conference, Gupta said that the survey for construction at 160 other locations had already started.
Blaming the Delhi government for the delay in the survey of the those settlement, he added, "The Arvind Kejriwal government held up the clearance for starting a survey in Jhuggi cluster for 10 months even after the required amount was deposited by the DDA. When the DDA put pressure (on the govt) for the survey, then he started the survey for the CM’s housing scheme on the land owned by the central government." Gupta, a DDA member, said the Authority then wrote a letter to the Delhi Government that this survey is in violation of the rules of the Delhi Government and that it should be stopped.
Later, the BJP leader added, the DDA itself started the survey in August. Demanding that 185 Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) camps should be included in the survey by the DDA, he said 5,173 Jhuggi dwellers had deposited Rs 39.40 crore for this purpose after taking loans. "Yet, the Delhi government did not allot any pucca house to them, whereas 52,000 flats have already been constructed and they are in very dilapidated condition," he claimed.
"The Delhi government has allotted Rs 600 crore for repair (of these flats). As many as 17,000 flats have been constructed by the DUSIB and yet not a single house has been allotted to Jhuggi dwellers." Ahead of the Delhi election, the BJP and the AAP are locked in a fight to win over the residents of slum clusters who form a formidable votebank.