Today's decision on unauthorised colonies ends 13-yr wait

New Delhi, Feb 8 (UNI) The decision to regularise over 1,500 unauthorised colonies in the national capital, has ended years of agonising wait for more than 30 lakh people living in such areas in the city.

The issue had been hanging fire for the past more than 13 years, Union Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy today said while informing the media about the union cabinet's decision.

A proposal had been moved way back in 1993 for regularising unauthorised colonies existing on March 31, 1993. That proposal was approved by the cabinet in 2001. It again revised this in 2004.

But nothing happened on the ground before the present approval of the cabinet that covered 1,537 unauthorised colonies, that were in existence as on March 31, 2002. In this list too, initially there were only 1,432 colonies, to which 105 were added later.

This move would benefit people, mostly poor, who had been living in such areas for the past about 30 years, Mr Reddy said.

The last regularisation had come in 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi government approved 612 unauthorised colonies.

UNI