Venkaiah Naidu for action plan to regularize unauthorized colonies

New Delhi: Urban Development and Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu, on Tuesday, reviewed various issues relating to urbanization and development of the National Capital Region of Delhi.

Members of Parliament from Delhi, mayors and chief executives of municipal bodies, including NDMC and Delhi Development Authority were present at the three-hour-meeting.

They included Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Meenakshi Lekhi, Udit Raj, Parvesh Verma, Ramesh Bidhuri and Mahesh Giri, Shankar Aggarwal, Secretary (UD), mayors of three municipal corporations of Delhi, chairpersons of standing committees, Balwinder Kumar, Vice-Chairman, DDA, senior urban development ministry officials, Secretary (Urban Development), Govt. of NCT of Delhi, Mangu Singh, CMD of DMRC, chief executives of Delhi Jal Board, NDMC and municipal corporations.

The following 16 decisions were taken:

1. To enable meaningful urban development, there is a case for having a fresh look at regularization of all unauthorized colonies in Delhi. For this a concept paper has to be prepared within 15 days after which the Delhi government in consultation with union urban development ministry would prepare an action plan;

2. DDA and all the municipal bodies of Delhi should get all their respective land properties mapped properly using latest GIS and Information Technology. These details of the same should be made available in the public domain. All MPs, MLAs and Corporators and general public should provide necessary information in this regard to respective agencies so that the problem of encroachment can be addressed to;

3. DDA should submit full details of various pending court cases pending in respect of its lands and launch a campaign for eviction of its encroached land properties and these details should be made available to public;

4. Delhi Jal Board (DJB) should take over the infrastructure built by DDA for water supply in Dwarka and other areas on 'as is where is basis' and the cost of necessary improvement works would be reimbursed by DDA;

5. DJB has agreed to do so before next summer;

6. Union Urban Development Ministry would take up the issue of enabling water supply through Munak Canal that augments water supply to Dwarka area with Haryana Government;

7. Handing over and taking over of public utilities between DDA and Delhi municipal bodies should be done within two months and a Standard Operating Protocol need to be evolved;

8. Creation of a separate agency for maintenance of public toilets in Delhi on Public Private Partnership basis to be examined by Urban Development Ministry in consultation with Delhi government. Required institutional framework would be put in place;

9. Secretary(Urban Development), Govt. of India to take up with Chief Secretary of Govt. of NCT of Delhi to sort out issues/complaints pertaining to DJB and changes in building by-laws to make them citizen friendly;

10. Delhi municipal bodies including NDMC and DDA to undertake 'Swachha Bharat Abhiyan' from September 25 (Birthday of late Shri Deen Dayal Upadhyaya) till October 2, 2014(Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi). All the agencies have agreed to undertake this campaign in all sincerity;

11. DDA to construct parking spaces to meet the growing demand and to hand over the same to Delhi municipal bodies for operation and maintenance;

12. Delhi municipal bodies to ensure transparency in execution of development works by displaying all details like cost of the work, implementation schedule, name of the agency executing the work, source of funds etc through public information display boards;

13. Delhi Municipal Act to be amended to increase penalties for indiscrete disposal of solid waste and to enable effective solid waste management by minimizing transportation and garbage disposal through recycling. Urban Development Ministry would evolve innovative solid waste disposal solutions;

14. DMRC to undertake survey for extending metro rail line to Narela-Kutubgarh and to Kondli;

15. DMRC to re-examine naming of some existing metro stations so as to avoid confusion among the commuters about the places they want to alight;

16. DMRC to consider naming metro stations after distinguished personalities like late M.Visveswaraiah and late Durgabai Deshmukh.

Balwinder Kumar, Vice-Chairman, DDA, informed that eight sites have been identified for public utilities like solid waste dumping, veterinary hospital, slaughter house, burial of dead animals etc.

Naidu also directed DDA and Delhi municipal bodies to attend to the issues raised by elected people's representatives promptly and in detail besides holding regular meetings with them.