Accusing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of misleading people on the regularisation of unauthorised colonies, former Union Minister and Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken on Monday challenged him to an open debate on the issue.
Maken also gave a two-month ultimatum to the Aam Aadmi Party Government for opening of registry in the unauthorised colonies, failing which it would come out on the street. lambasting Kejriwal
for misleading people of unauthorised colonies, the Congress leader said that the process of development was initiated by the previous Congress Governments, both in Delhi and at the Centre.
According to Maken, the boundaries of 895 unauthorised colonies was fixed by the erstwhile Sheila Dikshit Government and sent to MCD in 2012. “The Sheila Dikshit Government had spent over Rs3,000 crore in unauthorised colonies for development and providing basic amenities,” he said.
Maken alleged that funds from unauthorised colonies have been reduced from Rs440 crore to Rs283 crore in the vote-on-account. Delhi Congress move comes a day after Chief Minister Kejriwal said that previous Governments did nothing for the regularisation and development of such colonies. “Kejriwal is trying to mislead the people on the regularisation of unauthorised colonies as the process of development and regularisation of such colonies was set in motion by the Congress Governments at the Centre and in Delhi. The Congress Government had issued notification for regularisation of these colonies. It was Congress which relaxed the norms. It was Congress which invited applications from people of 1,639 unauthorised colonies,” Maken said.
“The AAP Government has so far made only tall and hollow promises to the people instead of taking any concrete follow-up action for their regularisation,” he said. The Delhi Congress chief said that figures given out by Kejriwal during a rally were old, finalised by the Congress Government and the AAP Government has only reduced the allocation for urban development, housing for the poor and sanitation in JJ clusters.
“I challenge the Delhi Chief Minister to an open debate on the issue of unauthorised colonies and then, I will tell him what Congress Governments have done for these colonies. Kejriwal is misleading the people on this issue,” Maken said.
“AAP Government made a 35.6 per cent reduction in the allocation for urban development with the deduction of Rs157 crore from the Rs440 crore allocated by the previous Congress Government for 2014-2015 while there was a reduction of 30.6 per cent in providing houses for the economically weaker sections by reducing Rs124 crore from the Rs404 crore allocated by the Congress Government,” he said.
Maken also said that Kejriwal was only indulging in “big talk to mislead” the people as the DDA, in a notification issued on March 24, 2008 with the previous approval of the Congress-led Government at the Centre had specified regulations for regularisation of unauthorised colonies in Delhi.