'Process to give ownership rights to unauthorised colonies' residents not halted during polls'

Over 150 people living in unauthorised colonies in Delhi have received ownership rights till date, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday and asserted that the process to grant it was not halted even during the election period.

The Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, ahead of holding a press conference here, distributed conveyance deeds to 34 people living in different colonies.

"Twenty people were given the conveyance deeds on January 3, today 34 more got it. And, during the election period about 100 people had been given (the document) by the DDA authorities," Puri said.

Contrary to a "narrative being created" earlier that the process of granting ownership rights had been halted, "it actually went on", he said.

Elections were announced in Delhi on January 6, bringing into force the Model Code of Conduct. The poll code has been lifted after the elections.

"Due permission was taken from poll authorities to give the conveyance deeds during the poll period, as this scheme had been announced before the model code of conduct came into force," he said.

Puri also said that 2.15 lakh people have registered through the portal seeking the ownership rights.

Asked later if absolute ownership rights were granted to the people so far, he said, "Yes, is 'pucca, pucca' rights and they can use the documents to seek loans from a bank".

He reiterated that the historic decision taken by the Union Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister facilitated the way to give ownership rights to more than 40 lakh citizens residing in 1,731 unauthorized colonies of Delhi.

"The process is going smoothly and we are much more ambitious, and would like to see all the residents getting registered in the next six months, and subsequent process started," he said.

As many as "2.15 lakh have registered and each family has about 4-5 members, so about 8-10 lakh people have been covered, that is 25 per cent of the total residents who would benefit," the minister said.

Puri said a software is being developed to verify the applications and once it is up and running, verification will take place in run time and further expedite the process.

During his interaction, he asserted that this scheme to grant "maliqana haq" (ownership rights) to people, "had nothing to do with elections".

"In fact, we had conceived the scheme a long time back and I wished it had taken off six months ago," he said.

He said now the "control norms" are being worked out by the DDA, in terms of planning for roads, water and other facilities.

The exercise of delineation of boundaries is being carried out by the DDA with the assistance of Survey of India (SOI) and Revenue Department, Delhi government. More than 500 unauthorised colonies or clusters have been delineated, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs said in a statement.

The applicants have to attach requisite documents such as general power of attorney, agreement to sell, payment and possession documents, site plan and GPS data etc., with the application, it said.