Even as a draft policy remains pending with the Union urban development ministry for its nod, the Delhi government on Wednesday went ahead to approve the Delhi Slum & JJ Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy-2015, a move that may trigger a fresh standoff between the AAP government and the Centre. The decision was taken at a board meeting of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), chaired by the chief minister, four days after the controversial demolition of slums in Shakur Basti in which an infant was allegedly killed.
According to the newly-approved policy, slum clusters which have come up before January 1, 2006, will not be removed without rehabilitating the dwellers and the cut-off date for eligibility for alternative accommodation for people living in these slum clusters would be February 14, 2015. “Around two-and-a-half months ago, the Delhi government had sent the draft of Delhi Slum & JJ Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy to Centre for its approval. As the Centre has not given any response so far, the board of the DUSIB chaired by CM, today approved the same,” a senior official said.
The official said that in November and December, the Delhi government had relocated slum dwellers in Nangloi after their shanties were demolished in Paschim Vihar area, without the Centre’s approval. As per the policy, no new jhuggi will be allowed to come up after February 14, 2015, the day AAP formed government last year. The DUSIB will plan and implement in-situ rehabilitation and re-development of slum clusters wherever technically feasible and in other cases, the DUSIB will resort to nearest possible relocation. The AAP government has also made a provision in the policy that no land agency, including DDA, will carry out demolition in slum clusters in Delhi without prior approval of the DUSIB. “In emergency circumstances, the land-owning agency will bring the proposal before the DUSIB. If the DUSIB is satisfied and permits demolition, then the DUSIB will make all efforts to relocate the jhuggis in that slum cluster, clear the land and hand it over to the land-owning agency within next six months after the date of the DUSIB resolution,” the official said.
The DUSIB hopes to complete the task of rehabilitating all slum clusters in Delhi in the next five years, if it receives cooperation from all land-owning agencies. The Delhi government will constitute an appellate authority, which will have four members, including a retired judge of additional district court, for redressal of grievances related to determination of eligibility of allotment of alternate dwelling unit for slums.
In case there is a slum cluster on land belonging to DDA and other land-owing agencies, they may hand over the clusters on their lands to DUSIB on land-sharing basis in the ratio of 40:60. “After in-situ re-development and rehabilitation, 40 per cent land would be returned to the land-owning agency for whatever projects they want to have in the land and slum dwellers will be rehabilitated in the remaining 60 per cent by constructing multi-storey flats. In that case, land-owing agency will have to pay the cost of land,” the official said.
According to the government, Delhi Master Plan 2021 envisages that for in-situ rehabilitation of slum clusters, a maximum of 40 per cent land can be used as a resource and minimum of 60 per cent of land has to be used for in-situ redevelopment to rehabilitate them. The DUSIB will prepare a scheme of rehabilitation for any slum cluster and use such portion of land which is required for rehabilitation of slum-dwellers depending upon density of the said cluster and pass on the remaining portion of land to the land-owning agency, which will have to bear the cost of rehabilitation.
“The contribution of the beneficiary will be '112,000 per dwelling unit having the carpet area of 25 sq. metres. (The contribution may slightly vary on case to case basis depending upon the actual carpet area of the dwelling unit). In addition, the beneficiary will be required to pay an amount of '30,000 at the time of allotment of the dwelling unit, towards the cost of maintenance for a period of five years,” the official said.
