NEW DELHI: In a first, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) will redevelop slum clusters based in the trans-Yamuna area (East and North-east districts) of the city providing permanent housing facilities to thousands of families residing there, Raj Niwas said on Friday.
The initiative, under the in-situ rehabilitation project of the Centre’s ‘Jahan Jhuggi Wahin Makan’ scheme, has received assent from the L-G.
According to Raj Niwas officials, the project will rehabilitate three JJ ( jhuggi jhopdi) clusters situated in Kalandar Colony, Deepak Colony and Dilshad Vihar Colony that house nearly 4,000 families.
This will be the first such project in the trans-Yamuna area and the fourth in the national capital, after similar initiatives at Kalkaji Extension, Jailorwala Bagh and Kathputli Colony, officials said, adding that L-G VK Saxena has directed authorities to complete the project without any delay.
The decision was taken in a meeting headed by the L-G, along with Vice-Chaiman and other senior officials of the DDA on Friday following a visit by L-G Saxena to Kalandar Colony in Shahdara on March 5.
According to officials, the L-G had witnessed pathetic conditions in the area where 30,000-35,000 people were living in unhygienic squalor, bereft of even basic civic amenities
Saxena had attacked the city government following his visit stating that the responsibility of providing basic amenities and public utilities in the areas rested with the DUSIB (Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
Responding to the L-G’s comments, the city government said that more than three lakh poor residents have been rendered homeless in the last one-and-a-half years under various demolition drives by the agencies under the Centre.
“Now, under the pressure of upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the L-G is trying an image makeover. However, lakhs of people who have been rendered homeless will never forgive the L-G and the Centre,” the city government said.
The in-situ rehabilitation project will be developed on an estimated seven hectares of land with multi-storeyed buildings wherein flats with modern amenities will be provided to the slum dwellers, hitherto living in subhuman conditions, officials informed.
After the L-G’s approval, the DDA will soon present him a detailed project report along with the finances involved in the project. Raj Niwas officials said that Saxena has directed the DDA officials to execute the project in a time-bound manner and avoid any delay in the project, unlike in the past when the projects were delayed.