New Delhi: Barely three days before the Delhi civic polls, the Centre has promised to redevelop the capital’s DDA colonies and group housing societies — a move it hopes will take away middle-class voters from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
The BJP-led central government also held out a carrot for residents of slum clusters, assuring them quicker rehabilitation if voted to power.
The Municipal Commission of Delhi (MCD) elections are slated for 4 December, and results will be counted on the 7th.
This year’s battle for the civic body is pitched primarily between the BJP and the AAP, with the former leaving no stone unturned to steal a march over its rival.
The BJP has so far been unable to counter the AAP’s freebies, and at the same time, has been eyeing Delhi’s slum-dwellers who constitute a major vote bank. They also played a crucial role in the AAP’s win during the 2020 Assembly elections.
An estimated 20 lakh people live in the city’s slums, a votebank the BJP can’t afford to ignore.
Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, told the media Wednesday that the Centre’s policies of land pooling, regeneration of old colonies and slum rehabilitation would benefit about 1.35 crore people of the capital’s 3-crore population.
“There are about 675 slum clusters, out of which 376 are on government or central lands. The responsibility of making houses where the slum is (jahan jhuggi, wahan makan) belongs to the Centre. Under our initiative, people from 210 slum clusters have filled forms to get new homes,” Puri said.
He cited the Kalkaji Extension project for the economically weaker section, which is first in the line of a housing-for-all scheme that also has two other upcoming slum rehabilitation projects — Kathputli Colony and Jailorwala Bagh — expected to be completed in the “coming months”.
Puri said there were about 299 slum clusters under the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) where the “work has not started”.
He also mentioned how the public had dismissed their plans of in-situ rehabilitation by stating it was only on paper. Despite the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) all over India, work hadn’t progressed in Delhi, the critics said.
The state unit of the party is also hopeful that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inauguration of over 3,000 flats for the rehabilitation of slum dwellers in Kalkaji Extension earlier this month would help the party connect with slum dwellers.
Puri said: “Once the MCD election is over in Delhi, we will either request our fellow parliamentary members to start the work or take it up ourselves. It shouldn’t be that the Centre is redeveloping in one corner, and on the other, the DUSIB is not doing anything about slum clusters.”
Talking about DDA colonies allotted in the 70s, Puri said residents often complained about the condition of these buildings. He said party candidates – once elected – would immediately focus on the redevelopment of these colonies.
He was referring to the plan which allows DDA societies to have taller buildings, better amenities like lifts and spacious parking if 70% or more house owners in a complex agreed to it.
“Over the years, the population in Delhi and its requirement has increased. Anticipating that we had increased FAR (floor area ratio), which used to be 133 in 1981 and is now about 200. Similarly, keeping the need of the people in mind, we have provided for the redevelopment in the masterplan of 2041,” he said at the press conference, which was attended by all Delhi BJP MPs.
Puri further said that about 700 hectares was already pooled in six sectors of Delhi. “When we implemented the policy, there were obstacles like mutation, stamp duty and contiguity. We’ll solve the issue of contiguity. For this, we will be taking our proposal for the amendment of the DDA act of 1957 to Parliament next year to accelerate the land pooling process,” he added.
Politics over ‘jhuggi jhopdi’
Both the BJP and the AAP are wooing lakhs of migrants residing in ‘jhuggi jhopdi’ (slum) clusters and unauthorised colonies. According to estimates, around 20 lakh people live in slums.
The BJP’s campaign heavily banks on the PM’s “jahan jhuggi, waha makaan” scheme. Earlier this month, Narendra Modi inaugurated 3,024 flats for families under the EWS category, handing over keys to beneficiaries at the “Bhoomiheen Camp” in south Delhi’s Kalkaji Extension.
In its 12-point manifesto, the BJP has also promised pucca houses to slum dwellers with facilities such as MCD-operated dispensaries, maternity wards, and schools.
Though the BJP has ruled the civic body for 15 years, the ruling AAP government’s “freebie politics” has found an impressionable audience in slums and unauthorised colonies.
It is a “prestige” fight for the BJP this year, more so since this is the first time that polls are being held for a unified civic body after the three trifurcated zones unified earlier this year.
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