The National Capital’s 37 residential blocks, which had been raised illegally over the years, have finally been stripped off the title of “affluent colonies.”
Home to some of the influential politicians, bureaucrats, police officers and business honchos, these colonies would no longer be termed affluent and have been categorised as unauthorised structures.
Defining affluent colonies, the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) has asked the Delhi Government to treat Sainik Farms, Anant Ram dairy, Mahendru Enclave and 37 others as “unauthorised colonies”. The Ministry has made it clear that “colonies are not affluent, but it is the people who are affluent and an affluent person can reside in any unauthorised colony”.
The Ministry’s clarification came on a plea of the Delhi Government in which it has sought clarification pertaining to “affluent colonies”. like Sainik Farms, Mahendru Enclave and Anant Ram Dairy, 37 other colonies are not covered by the regularisation guidelines.
Moreover, all these colonies are not covered by any development works or civic facilities. It is also a fact that the MoUD’s regularisation guidelines pertaining to unauthorised colonies does not talk of colonies beyond Sainik Farms, Mahendru Enclave and Anant Ram Dairy. This has left the other colonies classified affluent out of the purview of the policy for now.
Top sources said a high-level meeting was held with officials of MoUD and the Delhi Government and it decided that colonies having tag of affluent colonies are only unauthorised colonies. Now the Centre has made it clear that anybody living in these colonies can be termed as affluent. It has also specified that the affluent people could also live in unauthorised colonies.
According to sources, the State Government’s concern stems from the fact that besides the three colonies covered by the regularisation proposal of the Ministry, there are at least 37others categorised as “affluent” based on the recommendations of an expert committee (led by KK Mathur) that was formed by the Ministry to lay down the parameters of affluence. It is noted that the Ministry had already rejected the recommendations of the KK Mathur committee on affluent colonies in Delhi.
During the erstwhile UPA Government, the Urban Development Ministry had even moved a Cabinet note for the regularisation of the three “affluent unauthorised” colonies. But the proposal was reportedly shelved only after the PMO had raised some objections.
Earlier, the Ministry was in a fix on how to define an affluent colony and was mulling over the regularisation charges to be levied on the three colonies - Sainik Farms and Anant Ram Dairy in South Delhi and Mahendru Enclave in North Delhi. The Delhi Government had earlier submitted before the Delhi High Court and MoUD that it would have no problem if the Government decides to regularise posh colonies.
Even, former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit had written to Urban Development Ministry for regularisation of posh colonies.