New Delhi, Oct 6 (PTI) Citing “paucity of funds”, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has sought an annual grant-in-aid of Rs 60 crore from Delhi government to deploy drone surveillance and set up 21 dedicated enforcement squads across its 12 zones to check illegal construction in informal colonies, according to an official document.
According to a business item passed at the latest meeting of the MCD House on September 30, the civic body has submitted a proposal to the Delhi government’s urban development department seeking Rs 7 crore annually for quarterly three-dimensional drone mapping and Rs 53 crore a year for running round-the-clock demolition cells equipped with heavy machinery and specialised labour.
According to the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorized Colonies) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 status report placed before the House, the MCD, through the Survey of India (SoI), began high-precision 3-D drone surveys across 1,511 PM-UDAY colonies in April this year — excluding 236 colonies falling within restricted influence zones of Delhi and Hindon airports.
To maintain strict vigilance, the civic body plans to repeat these drone surveys every three months for “change detection” and enforcement of building regulations.
According to the proposal, SoI estimates the mapping cost at Rs 5.50 crore per year, while data storage and analytical support managed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) will cost an additional Rs 1.50 crore annually.
Alongside high-tech surveillance, the MCD is preparing to establish 21 dedicated enforcement cells — one in each building division across its 12 zones — following directives from the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to take stern action against illegal developments.
The proposal states that each enforcement cell will be equipped with heavy-duty equipment including pneumatic hammers, gas cutters, backhoe loaders (JCBs), 5-tonne-capacity motorised vehicles, demolition labour, and additional supervisory staff comprising 12 assistant engineers (AEs) and 24 junior engineers (JEs).
The monthly operational cost for this dedicated apparatus is estimated at Rs 4.39 crore, taking the yearly enforcement expenditure to Rs 53 crore.
The status report also revealed that while 1,731 unauthorised colonies were originally notified under the 2019 regulations, 147 colonies were excluded due to overlap with forest lands, ridge areas, and the Yamuna O-Zone.
Further, 49 colonies have been proposed for deletion due to non-conformity with cut-off dates and development criteria, while boundary data for 24 colonies remains non-traceable.
To streamline regularisation for eligible property owners who hold conveyance deeds under the PM-UDAY (Pradhan Mantri – Unauthorized Colonies in Delhi Awas Yojana) scheme, the MCD has fully integrated its SWAGM portal with the Delhi Development Authority and Delhi government portals, enabling online applications for built-up area regularisation on an “as-is, where-is” basis.
After a lukewarm response, MCD recently announced that regularisation charges have been reduced by 75 per cent and gone back to affidavit-based, third-party-verified mechanism.
Further, MCD’s website states that since April — when the Centre announced the scheme to regularise properties and grant ownership rights to residents of 1,511 unauthorised colonies in Delhi — it has received seven applications for regularisation of built up area out of which only two have been approved by the department. It has also received 121 applications via empanelled architects, out of which 109 are pending. PTI VBH VBH ARB
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