AAP govt stumbling block in regularisation process: Puri

NEW DELHI: Hitting out at the Delhi government, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on that the AAP dispensation has been a “stumbling block” in regularisation of unauthorised colonies in the national capital. The Union housing and urban affairs minister said the Delhi government adopts one position in public, but takes a complete opposite stand when it comes to doing something.

Mr Puri said : “I am deeply pained to have to say to you... I find that elected representatives sometimes, you know who I am referring to, adopt  one position in public to say... We must reach out to the people because those are the vote bank and then, when it comes to doing something for them, they follow policy and take measures completely opposed to them.”

Mr Puri was speaking at a two-day international conference organised to discuss the ‘Master Plan for Delhi-2041’. The event witnessed detailed deliberations on ‘MPD- 2041’ on a range of issues.

Last week, Mr Puri had written to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, alleging that the whole process of regularising unauthorised colonies in Delhi was stalled due to “apathy and inaction” of the AAP government, which vehemently rejected his claim. At the event, the Union minister claimed that the Delhi government has sought two more years to do mapping of these colonies required for their regularisation. In reference to his recent letter to Mr Kejriwal over regularisation of unauthorised colonies, Mr Puri said, “When we tried to do something for those people living in informal settlement, they (AAP government) have been a stumbling block. We did not accept that position, we are going ahead in any case...”

There are over 1,650 unauthorised colonies in the national capital where migrant population plays a vital role in deciding the fate of any political party during elections.

In the letter, Mr Puri had said, “The Centre is keen to regularise  all unauthorised colonies of Delhi which are covered under the regulations, but the whole process is stalled due to the apathy and inaction on the part of your government to finalise the boundaries after survey of these colonies.” Responding to Mr Puri’s allegations, the Delhi government had said the contents of the letter are factually “misleading, incorrect and imaginary”. “It is a well known fact that the central government does not like the existence of unauthorised colonies in Delhi and has been opposed to their regularisation.