NEW DELHI: As campaigning begins for the Lok Sabha elections, parties are drumming up support among the residents of Delhi’s unauthorised colonies. As many as 30 per cent of the capital’s population resides in approximately 1,800 such colonies, making them a sizable voting bloc.
The BJP is banking on the Prime Minister -Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojana (PM-UDAY), a special scheme to grant ownership rights to over 10 lakh households in unauthorised colonies. However, the scheme has failed to make an impact, as most families have yet to benefit. According to the data, over 1.69 lakh applications have been received under the scheme since its launch in December 2019, but only 22,000 have received ownership rights to their properties.
On the other hand, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has made infrastructure upgradation its main poll plank. In early February, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had promised that all roads in unauthorised colonies would be made concrete before the 2025 Delhi assembly elections.
“Before every election, politicians from other parties make several promises to people living in unauthorised colonies. However, neither this party nor that party did anything. Today, we are constructing roads, installing sewer pipelines, and laying water pipelines in all the unauthorised colonies across Delhi. We have achieved in five years what wasn’t done in 75 years,” he said.
In its budget for the year 2024-25, the Delhi government has set aside a total of Rs 902 crore for the upliftment of unauthorised colonies. Meanwhile, Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj has said that the government has implemented the ‘Strengthening and Augmentation of Infrastructure’ scheme which utilises money available under the MLA local area development fund for maintaining roads and streetlights in each assembly constituency.
“Under this scheme, 1,002 new projects were approved for 2023-24, of which 717 have been completed. In order to continue this developmental work, Rs 400 crore has been allocated under the MLALAD scheme in the 2024- 25 budget,” said Bharadwaj.