'Kejriwal did nothing for regularisation of colonies'

Accusing the Kejriwal government of "betraying" poor people, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said it did nothing for regularisation of unauthorised colonies despite staying in power for five years.

Addressing a press conference, he charged that the Congress government too "cheated" the residents of unauthorised colonies in the name of regularisation.

"There were three-four things that the Delhi government was required to do for regularisation as per Regularisation of 2008. The AAP government did not fulfil its responsibilities -- delineation of colonies, the constitution of a committee to decide titles, fixing charges and fees -- despite being in power for five years," he alleged.

The Modi government started work for regularisation of unauthorised colonies in 2014 itself, he said.

The press conference was attended by all the seven-party MPs from the city, including BJP's Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari, in a show of strength and unity ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls.

Vardhan said the AAP government in a letter to the Centre has expressed its inability to regularise the colonies before 2021.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in July said residents of unauthorised colonies in Delhi will soon have ownership rights of their properties and asserted that the Centre agreed to its proposal in this regard.

"The Centre has sent a very positive response, they are ready and asked some questions which will be replied by us in a few days. The dream of residents in unauthorised colonies to have ownership rights of their properties will be realised soon," Kejriwal said.

There are 1,797 unauthorised colonies housing lakhs of people, that are awaiting regularisation for many years.