The Hindu One the colonies in Dabri
which were regularized among the 917 unauthorized colonies in Delhi. Photo:
V.V. Krishnan
In 2010, a major pipeline that
carried water from the Wazirabad treatment plant in the city developed several
breaches. Residents were left parched and the civic authorities had to deal
with water-logged roads. The Delhi Jal Board that is responsible for the
maintenance of this pipeline spent days looking for the origin of the leakage.
The water utility could not locate the fault because “illegal constructions”,
read houses, had come up on the pipeline itself. And because these illegal
constructions could not be razed, the DJB was forced to change the alignment of
this three-decade-old pipeline.
The Government-owned power utility,
the Delhi Transco Limited, has been for years complaining about houses in
unauthorised colonies having come up dangerously close to vital installations
including high-voltage overhead lines.
Numerous instances of blackouts and
even deaths by electrocution have not prevented houses from arching towards
overhead transmission lines.
Water and power utilities are not
the only ones complaining, land meant for forests and green areas has been
turned into an unplanned, urban jungle. Haphazardly constructed buildings stand
worryingly close to monuments and buildings of heritage value. And while
heritage conservation experts worry about the message that is being sent out by
the regularisation of the unauthorised buildings, the Government insists it
will wage a legal battle, but ensure there are no demolitions.
There are approximately 47 colonies
that stand on land that is owned by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)
and 15 in the regulated zone. “Unauthorised neighbourhoods in the vicinity of
heritage sites such as the Qutub Minar or Tughlaqabad Fort will disfigure the
landscape of the sites. However, implementation of heritage regulations has
never been the priority for the agencies concerned,” said Ratish Nanda,
conservation architect and expert on heritage preservation.
In the city where providing
infrastructure is often preceded by occupation, there is a growing concern
about the Government’s decision to regularise all that came up in contravention
of the laws. “There is a perception among people that even if they squat on
public land, after some years the Government will eventually legitimise it.
Irrespective of who is in power, the dependence on vote bank politics has led
to growing lawlessness,” complained noted environment lawyer M.C. Mehta.
Mr. Mehta recalled an instance when
the Delhi Government informed the Supreme Court that they could not build any
more sewage treatment plants, because there was “no land available”. “They
don’t have land for essential installations like STPs, but there is land for
thousands of illegal constructions, how bizarre is that,” he questioned.
The Government is eulogising its
efforts to regularise 1,600 unauthorised colonies of which 917 have been made
legit, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has assured that even those colonies that
have come up on land owned by the forest department will be regularised.
“Our worry is that encroachers will
be emboldened by the Government’s mood. They will allow colonies on land owned
by forest and the ASI today, it will be the Zone ‘O’ (river bed/ river front)
tomorrow. There is no scope for allowing illegal constructions anywhere,
whether it is the rich in the Sainik Farms or the poor in other parts of the
city. The regularisation order over-stretches our limited resources,” said
Manoj Misra, convenor of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, a non-government organisation
that has been fighting for the preservation of the Yamuna and its flood plains.
Officials of the DJB are
tight-lipped about the strain that the regularisation order will put on the
system, but they are quick to point out that the Government will have to push
for more allocation of raw water if it wants equitable distribution. “As on
date we have laid the pipeline network in 823 colonies, of which 735 receive
water supply. In some colonies we supply water once every two days; in others
the duration is longer. But if we have to supply water to our existing 18
million consumers and the 4 million that are in these regularised colonies then
the Government must ensure that we get an additional 80 Million Gallons a Day
with immediate effect from Haryana and in the future more water from Bhakra
Beas and other sources,” said an official, requesting anonymity.
Power discoms have already been
supplying electricity in these unauthorised colonies, but they face the
challenge of keeping their installations safe. Pilferage is another issue that
the companies have to deal with.
“Sometimes when we try to talk to
people about the hazards of living near a power carrying line, they snap at us
and tell us its their life that is in danger and they will deal with it,” said
a discom official.
Has the Government failed the
people, has it abdicated its duty to provide habitable housing for the poor,
has it overlooked transgression of law by allowing the unregulated growth of
farmhouses?
A.K. Jain, a former Delhi
Development Authority official, said: “Planned development is an idealistic
situation. We aspire for it, but have to realise that planned and unplanned
development go side by side. While there is regularisation of these unplanned
areas, we need to focus on the critical aspects as well. The Government must
turn attention to in-field development, which means large properties or vacant
spaces can be used for building group housing societies, where there will be
proper infrastructure, roads, and sewers. The Master Plan also identifies that
there should be 15 per cent housing developed through in-field development.”
Opinion in favour of regularisation
is pivoted around human rights and allowing residents a chance to live with
dignity. Attention is drawn to the unhygienic, unhealthy living conditions in
these colonies, some of which are marked by mounds of garbage, broken roads,
water-clogged streets and no civic amenities.
“I would not like to comment whether
the unauthorised colonies and slums should have come up at the first place. The
fact is that 50 per cent of Delhi is now living in unauthorised colonies and
slums, and at this stage the most important issue and challenge is how to
improve their habitation,” said Raj Rewal, chairperson of the Delhi Urban Art
Commission.
The DUAC has offered to take up suo
motu studies to improve the living conditions for unauthorised colonies.
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