People of illegal colonies may get land rights soon

New Delhi: After free power, water, and travel for women in DTC and cluster buses, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is planning to initiate the process of registration of land in unauthorised colonies, granting ownership to the owners of these properties.

As of today, no such registration process is in place and all sale purchase of properties in these colonies is done through power of attorney, which is not legally tenable in court as it is not registered in the revenue records of the city. If implemented, the registration of land in these colonies would enable residents of these colonies to get a legal status for their properties.

The registration of properties has been a long pending demand of residents living in over 2,000 unauthorised colonies in the national capital.

A senior AAP functionary said that the party hopes this step will help it garner votes of the majority of residents living in these colonies. With this step, AAP is targeting more than 60 per cent of people residing in these colonies. The residents of these colonies are also considered to be the strongest backers of the Arvind Kejriwal government.  

The AAP has already instructed its legislators to put up boards and hoardings thanking chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for this public welfare measure. The move is likely to be a game changer and help AAP retain the majority of seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly.

In the 2015 Assembly polls, AAP had won 67 of the 70 seats. The AAP had won the polls by making a huge dent in the vote bank of Congress, which ruled the state for 15 consecutive years. The vote share of Congress reduced from 24.55 per cent in the 2013 Assembly elections to 9.65 per cent in 2015.

The state election is due in February next year.

The AAP faces a major threat from both BJP and Congress in the coming state elections. After AAP came to power, BJP managed to retain power in all the three municipal bodies. The saffron party secured victory in the municipal polls for the third consecutive term.

Also, in the Lok Sabha elections BJP won all the seven seats in Delhi. Not only did all seven candidates of AAP lose in the parliamentary polls, five even lost their deposits.