DDA land for primary schools in Delhi only for MCD

New Delhi, Mar 3: In a major policy change and in furtherance of its 'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan', Delhi Development Authority (DDA) land for primary schools in Delhi will henceforth be given only to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) which would build and operate schools on them.

Informing this in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken said as per the January 2006 resolution it has been proposed that henceforth all primary school plots of the DDA in Delhi will be offered to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

In case of senior secondary schools, 50 per cent of the school sites in every neighbourhood would be offered to the Government of Delhi, while the other 50 per cent would be auctioned, he said.

Of the seven purposes for which it allots land -- hospitals, clubs, community halls, schools, higher and technical educational institutions, religious purposes and social and cultural activities --, the DDA had switched to 'auctioning of land' for hospitals, clubs and higher and technical educational institutions.

For community halls, sites would be offered to local bodies or auctioned, the minister added.

To another question, Mr Ajay Maken said about 1,400 acres of DDA land was unauthorisedly occupied by jhuggi clusters or unauthorised colonies.

Of this about 239 acres had been reclaimed by the DDA through its demolition drive, he added.

UNI