NEW DELHI: Lieutenant Governor (L-G) VK Saxena has asked the officials to expedite work on the centre’s PM-UDAY scheme formulated to give ownership rights to the residents of unauthorised colonies and rehabilitation to slum dwellers, Raj Niwas officials said on Monday.
The L-G has directed officials to come up with a time-bound, simple and hassle-free plan, for regularisation of the unauthorised colonies, officials said.
Following the passage of the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) 2023 by the Parliament, Saxena chaired a meeting with the chief secretary, the officials of urban development, PWD, the vice-chairman of DDA, the commissioner of MCD and other senior officials of various departments to take stock of the progress and status of works related to PM-UDAY and PMAY (Urban) respectively, officials said.
The L-G has asked the officers to give specific timelines about the complete implementation of PM-UDAY, PMAY and the Land Pooling Policy of the DDA, they added. According to officials, Saxena was informed that ambiguity in the boundaries of the unauthorised colonies, repeated extension of cut-off dates and uncertainty in notified slum clusters had kept the issue unresolved for a long time, leading the Union government to formulate the PM-UDAY and PMAY schemes in 2019.
Moreover, with the outbreak of Covid-19, work could not be undertaken in full swing, officials said. “The L-G expressed surprise and concern at the fact that this Act in different versions had been in operation since December 2006, and yet the matter remained hanging, notwithstanding the constraints caused by pandemic,” an official said.
L-G Saxena directed the DDA to immediately identify alternate sites within a radius of five km where in situ rehabilitation was not possible according to law and the slum dwellers be rehabilitated to a dignified life in flats and houses that have already been constructed under various government schemes, officials said.
PM-UDAY Scheme