Delhi government to regularise 200 unauthorised colonies ahead of assembly polls

05 Jan 2013

The Delhi government on Friday gave in principle approval for regularisation of over 200 unauthorised colonies in the city and its suburbs ahead of the assembly polls due later this year.

A meeting of the Delhi cabinet presided over by chief minister Sheila Dikshit approved the proposal to regularise the settlements.

The Delhi administration had granted provisional regularisation certificates to the unauthorganised settlements in 2008 and the clearance by the Delhi cabinet paves the way for development of the settlements on par with other areas in the city.

"The cabinet has given in principle approval for regularisation of 205 unauthorised colonies," urban development minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said after the meeting.

Of the 205 colonies, 157 colonies are partly on forest land while 48 settlements have encroached land belonging to Archaeological Survey of India, he said, adding that the government had obtained clearance from the forest department and the Archeological Survey of India (ASI).

The Delhi government had, in September last year, regularised 895 unauthorised colonies with a population of around 35 lakh.