Lack of rehabilitation mechanism derails demolition

NEW DELHI: Is it due to lack of efficiency or collusion by officials that the numerous campaigns to clear government land of squatters, like at Shakur Basti by the Northern Railways recently, have not stopped thousands of acres remaining under encroachment in Delhi? The lack of a robust rehabilitation mechanism, appeasement of vote banks and humanitarian gestures restricted to times of demolition have all made the slums story messier than ever before.


The capital's biggest land owning agency, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), carried out 95 demolitions this year up to November 30. Of the 77,083 acres of land that it owns in the city, 3,261 acres are under illegal occupation. Of these, 1,819 acres have been taken over by unauthorized colonies, 129 by religious structures and 351 acres by jhuggi-jhonpri clusters. "We can't take action in these cases as the government is yet to finalise the policy for regularization of unauthorized colonies and rehabilitation of slums. As for religious structures, we need the permission of the state government's religious committee to initiate any step," said a DDA official.

TOI reported on Sunday that DDA's demolition drive had left hundreds homeless and freezing between Bela Estate and the Old Iron Bridge. Following a brouhaha, DDA temporarily stopped the eviction on Monday, having earlier attributed the knocking down of shacks there to the necessity of serving the order of the National Green Tribunal. However, neither the civic agency nor the government have been able to give convincing replies on where the dispossessed families will be accommodated after having lived there for decades.

A draft policy for rehabilitation of people affected by demolitions has been in the making for a long time. The state government says the impediment to notifying the policy, now pending at the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), is partly due to a "delay in the response of DDA and Centre" to whom the paper was referred. DDA claims it sent its response some time ago, but has not received confirmation from the government.

DUSIB appears determined to clear the policy at its next meeting, perhaps in a day or two, even if DDA is not on board. The draft policy proposes in situ rehabilitation as the preferred option. It entails legal colonies coming up on encroached land. Relocation is to be an alternative only if on-site resettlement is not feasible. Unapproved clusters that have come up till January 1, 2006, will be eligible for redevelopment, while people with proof of residence there till February 14, 2015, will qualify for new allotments.

As the flip-flop over rehabilitation continues, and as the poorest of the city's poor continue to run the risk of losing their homes, TOI found large-scale illegal realty development that impacts Delhi's urban spaces. There are 675 notified slums. Many more un-notified slums exist on railway land, the Yamuna riverbed and the river's floodplain. Clearly, in a crammed city, where every inch has a high value, land-owning government agencies like DDA, Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board, the Railways and others are struggling to hold on to their real estate. In the meantime, in the absence of a clear-cut policy on rehabilitation and due to the multiplicity of civic bodies, there often is prolonged litigation, during the pendency of which thousands of acres remain locked up.

Many of the unauthorised structures and clusters in the city are protected by the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second Act, 2014, which was legislated to deter punitive action against encroachment and illegal constructions during the period when the government was finalising policies and norms to implement the Master Plan 2021 for Delhi. The act will remain in operation till December 31, 2017.