Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has decided to allot its economically weaker section (EWS) houses, which are ready at Dwarka and were initially meant to be included into regular housing scheme to the Jhuggi Jhopri (JJ) dwellers.
Nearly 2,400 people will benefit from this move. Officials said that the dwelling units are ready and possession will be handed over after completion of requisite formalities.
“This will be a one-time decision since guidelines given by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) will be followed in future scheme formulations for rehabilitating JJ clusters. Slum clusters in the vicinity of Dwarka will be rehabilitated,” said Neemo Dhar, Advisor (PR) DDA. For this purpose, six clusters — at Indira Camp 2, 4 5, 3 and 6, Vikaspuri and Shanker Garden wherein 2,383 slum dwellers reside — have been identified, she added.
“The beneficiary’s identification survey is near completion and to this effect, assistance is also being taken from other socio-economic surveys carried out by the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB),” informed Dhar.
To recover costs, part of it will be subsidised, the rest will be recovered from the beneficiary by way of equated monthly instalments. “Once the beneficiaries are provided flats, the jhuggis occupied by them will be vacated and simultaneously demolished for land reclamation,” said a DDA official.
Meanwhile, in its meeting, the authority also approved the shifting of 2,754 JJ dwellers of Kathputli Colony to a transit accommodation at Anand Parbat at the earliest.
They will be moved in manageable lots and the jhuggis vacated by them will be demolished. “Kathputli Colony is a JJ encroachment on 5.22 hectares of land which is of mixed land use. The cluster will be redeveloped in-situ through PPP mode,” said Dhar.