Promising the villages of Delhi a special status while providing them a special village development fund, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) at its latest edition of Delhi Dialogue on Sunday drew up a blueprint for the betterment of rural Delhi. During the dialogue, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal said that no land would be acquired in Delhi’s villages without the consent of gram sabhas and 100 new schools and 20 new colleges for rural areas of Delhi will be set up.
The dialogue on Sunday was held near Najafgarh and was termed as the first part of the village dialogue. There will be another part of the dialogue on January 4 in Chhatarpur. While, the first three editions of Delhi Dialogue were focused on youth, women, and water and electricity, this one focused mainly on rural development.
“The dialogue focused on the interests and welfare of the residents of the 362 villages in the national Capital, of which 135 are urban villages and 227 are rural villages. Problems in Delhi’s villages are manifold. Farmers do not get adequate compensation during land acquisition. There are several regressive and outdated laws and regulations, especially regarding land-use and lal Dora areas. The rural economy and infrastructure is poorly planned, and education and health infrastructure is absent for practical purposes,” said an official from the party.
AAP’s overall vision for Delhi’s villages is based on reforming administrative, legal and land laws, rescinding of regressive and outdated laws, transforming basic infrastructure and facilities, tapping our rural youth’s potential via sports and gainful employment, reinvigorating the rural economy, and providing a special status for our villages by conserving and promoting their cultural and heritage potential.
Kejriwal said these villages would be given special status and there would be re-carving of wards in rural villages so that the wards with rural population have distinct identity. “Our aim would be of recognising our villages as villages, conserving their cultural legacy and heritage. We will bring suitable land reforms so that regressive and outdated regulations on land sale and use are scrapped,” he said.