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Indian Government passes bill to regularise unauthorised colonies in New Delhi

10 February 2021 03:27 (UTC +04:00)

On Tuesday the Indian Parliament passed the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Bill, 2021 to regularise unauthorized colonies in New Delhi, APA reports citing Sputnik.

"Delhi will not only benefit from the improvement in the living condition of 13.5 million people, but the Central Vista project will also make Delhi one of the finest cities in the world," Federal Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri told the upper house.

Arjun Kumar, director of Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), a platform for independent, non-partisan policy-based research, said, "With regularisation, people can apply for the house loan in that area."

"Until now these people were not getting proper water supply, garbage was not collected from their home," he said.

Unauthorised colonies are generally constructed in violation of building regulations, often on agriculture land and flood plain that's been illegally subdivided.

According to Kumar, more than two-thirds of Delhi's population lives in informal settlements.

"The issue of regularising the colonies in Delhi is almost 20 years old. Thousands of migrants every year settle down in these illegal colonies," Kumar said.

"Even to open a shop or repair the wall in illegal colonies, residents have to bribe authorities. I believe this practice will end now," he added.

According to the 2011 Indian Census, the country has around 20 million internal migrants. Delhi has the highest share of inter-state migrants in India.