Panel to review Delhi's settlements, pooling, land use

Delhi's land issues, including political hot potatoes such as regularisation of unauthorised colonies and implementation of land pooling policy, have come under the scanner of a parliamentary panel.

The 31-member parliamentary standing committee on housing and urban affairs will closely examine Delhi's three major urban development and land issues. The panel, which was reconstituted at the end of September, has finalised 23 issues to examine.

So far, the panel has been looking at the implementation and deliverables of the flagship missions under the housing and urban affairs ministry. Of the 23 issues, three pertain to Delhi's land issues directly. These include regularisation of unauthorised colonies in Delhi and other cities, status of implementation of land pooling policy in Delhi and allotment of government land in Delhi.

Regularisation of unauthorised colonies in Delhi has been a politically sensitive issue, with several attempts being made by successive governments to give ownership rights to people depending on a defined cut-off date. In its second term, the Narendra Modi government had introduced the PM-UDAY scheme to give legal status, ownership rights and access to crucial services such as water and electricity to residents of more than 1,700 unauthorised colonies. However, the scheme has not elicited the response the government had expected.


According to people familiar with the matter, the parliamentary panel will examine the different policies followed in regularisation of unauthorised colonies over the years and recommend measures to the government to better implement flagship schemes like PM-UDAY.