Parliament on Tuesday passed a bill related to unauthorized colonies in Delhi, in which protection from punitive action against unauthorized activities in Delhi has been extended for three years.
During the day, the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Act, 2023 was passed by voice vote after a brief discussion in the Lok Sabha. Only three people participated in this discussion, BJP’s Pravesh Sahib Singh Verma and Ramesh Bidhuri. Apart from this, Shiv Sena’s Rahul Shewale presented his views on this bill during the discussion.
Responding to the brief discussion on the bill in the Rajya Sabha, Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that before Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over the responsibility of governing the country in May 2014, there were problems in Delhi and the problems were due to neglect. . He said that the Center has been discussing this bill since 2019 after the Delhi Chief Minister sought two more years to complete the work.
Nearly 40 lakh people live in unauthorized colonies
Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri said, “This law came into force in 2019. At the beginning of 2020, we were facing the (COVID-19) pandemic and for 2020 and 2021 in the pandemic, almost no ground level work could be done. About 40 lakh people live in these unauthorized colonies. If an average family has four members, then we will have to register about eight to 10 lakh families. We have already done four lakhs. We need to do more, and we need to accelerate.”
Puri said that the land area of Delhi has not changed, but the population has increased from seven-eight lakh in 1947 to about 2.5 crore at present. He said, “This problem was visible 20 years ago and could have been addressed earlier, but the Congress government in 2006 decided to provide security to unauthorized colonies for one year due to the action of the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.” Brought a law for this. Puri said the law was extended every year till 2011 and after that, it was extended for three years and today it is being extended again.
8 members in Rajya Sabha participated in this discussion. Biju Janata Dal (BJD) member Amar Patnaik and BJP’s Anil Jain and Rakesh Sinha supported the bill. AIADMK member M. Thambidurai said the Center should help solve problems related to slum dwellers not only in Delhi but in other parts of the country.
Let us tell you that the opposition is demanding a statement from the Prime Minister and the Home Minister in the House regarding the lapse in security of Parliament, due to which more than 100 MPs have been suspended. Amidst the suspension and protests of these MPs, both houses of the Parliament approved this bill within a single day.
