Regularisation of unauthorised colonies put on fast track

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who prioritised the regularisation of unauthorised colonies after the party lost the municipal elections last year, chaired a meeting of all relevant departments on Monday to determine government’s progress.

“We are ready to approve at least another 200 unauthorised colonies in the next meeting of the Cabinet, which will happen in another week or 10 days,” Dikshit said.

With 895 colonies already approved and notified by Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna last year, the government hopes to bring that figure up to 1,200 shortly.

In the run-up to the 2008 elections, the government had granted 1,638 provisional regularisation certificates (PRC). “Soon the number will go up to 1,200 but we hope we can complete all 1,638 colonies this year. Based on surveys, we determined that the last lot of colonies will be a complicated process,” Dikshit said.

Senior officials in the government said clearances for the last few hundred unauthorised colonies would be harder. “Many of these colonies are fully within ridge boundaries, ASI protected zones and, in some cases, both. Other colonies do not satisfy the eligibility criteria. We are working on ways to try and get clearances for these

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