Scheme to relocate slum-dwellers in East Delhi cleared

Paving way for the widening of the Delhi-Meerut highway, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) on Wednesday cleared the proposal to relocate around 400 slum-dwellers staying close to NH-24 at East Delhi’s Vinod Nagar.

The decision to rehabilitate them in flats at Outer Delhi’s Baprola was taken during a DUSIB meeting presided by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, an official statement said.

Earlier, the Delhi Metro had to realign its upcoming Pink Line, passing through the area, on National High-way Authority of India’s (NHAI) request. The slum-dwellers will be rehabilitated under the Delhi Slum and JJ Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy 2015, the statement said.

During the meeting, the DUSIB budget with estimates of Rs 891.08 crore was approved of which, Rs 373.65 crore “will be spent on the execution of plan works in JJ bastis”, it added.

“In addition, the DUSIB will carry out development works in JJ clusters to the tune of Rs 120.10 crore as deposit works, out of MLA LAD fund/ DUDA fund/ Estate Management Fund. Out of Plan funds, Rs 107.35 crore will be spent on construction of community toilets,” the statement said.

The proposal to set up an appellate authority under the policy was also cleared at the meeting with the purpose being “grievance redr-essal of ineligible JJ dwe-llers”. The authority will be headed by the retired ju-dicial officer of the level of ADJ to redress the grievan-ces of ineligible JJ dwel-lers, the statement added.

“In addition to regular maintenance of flats allotted to JJ dwellers for rehabilitation, DUSIB will provide assistance for maintenance of internal services,” the statement said.