The promised land

The issue of granting property rights to residents of unauthorised colonies may have taken centre-stage for political parties in the run-up to the Delhi Assembly elections, but it does not seem to have gripped the average voter’s imagination — yet.

Similar promises made by the Congress in the past, according to one section of the residents of such colonies The Hindu spoke to, had made many lose faith in whether it was in the realm of possibility. While some credited the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) government at the Centre for pulling it out of obscurity and placing it onto the path of becoming reality through its enactment as a law, others argued that the Centre would not have taken the step had the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), at the helm of the Delhi government, not raised it in the first place.

In any case, with the process of granting ownership rights to an estimated 40 lakh residents of such colonies yet to begin and the registries of their respective properties still a promise made to them on paper,whether the passage of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Recognition of Property Rights of Residents in Unauthorised Colonies) Act, 2019 by both Houses of Parliament will yield electoral dividends, if at all, continues to be a moot point.

Poll plank

After first surfacing in the 1970s, unauthorised colonies, as a poll plank, became ubiquitous in Delhi's politics over the decades. Granting ownership rights to an estimated 40 lakh residents of over 1,731 of these colonies is an issue older than the Delhi Legislative Assembly, which came into existence in the early 1990s. The first batch of such colonies, that is around 567, was regularised in 1977.

Crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the “historic move” of bringing a law to grant ownership rights to the residents of these colonies within a hundred days of his second tenure, the BJP has accused both the Congress governments and the ruling AAP dispensation of dragging their feet on the issue for over four decades before Mr. Modi stepped in to “remove the blot of being unauthorised” from the foreheads of their residents.

AAP, on its part, has called the entire exercise an “eyewash” and a “photo opportunity” for the BJP with polls round the corner and sought to caution voters not to be swayed by “laws and Bills” existing solely on paper. Soon after coming to power in 2015, AAP claims that a “detailed proposal” to regularise these colonies had been sent to the previous BJP-led government at the Centre which, it alleges, chose to sit on it since November that year.

The Congress, which had issued provisional ownership certificates to the residents of around 1,639 colonies before the Delhi Assembly elections in 2008, which, however, did not translate into anything tangible later, accused both the BJP and AAP governments of “hatching a conspiracy” to uproot the residents. The current law, the party claims, will leave over 40% of such colonies out of the purview of actual benefit.

Ground reality

Suresh Kumar, a 60-year-old shopkeeper from Sangam Vihar, one of the largest unauthorised colonies in the city, said he didn’t think the Bill would even go through. “There are so many authorities involved. The Supreme Court may intervene. Who knows? We have heard all this before,” Kumar said.

Dinesh Kumar, another property owner here said there was still a lack of clarity on what exactly the policy of regularisation was and how it would be implemented. “I don’t think it will have any effect on the elections. The Sheila Dikshit government also made such promises but look what happened to that.”

S.N. Jha, who runs a confectionery store in the area, said he was sceptical about its effect on the upcoming elections. “The Rajya Sabha has also passed it and the Delhi Development Authority has started setting up registration booths. Maybe some people will be affected by it. But it looks like [Chief Minister Arvind] Kejriwal will come back, even if he loses some seats,” he said.

Credit wars

Vikram Singh Chandela, who operates a vehicle repair shop at the Indraprastha Colony in Burari, which hosts a sizeable number of unauthorised colonies, credited the BJP for ensuring the conversion of the promise to a law. “This promise has been made by every government before every election in the 25-odd years that I have lived in Burari. I was given a provisional certificate [in 2008] and promised that I will get ownership rights like lakhs of others but nothing happened. Credit should be given where it is due: the BJP has done what no other government could in this direction and will reap the benefits,” he said.

According to Rohit Joshi — who resides in Amrit Vihar located across the road from Indraprastha Colony — irrespective of the Bill turning into a law, AAP would reap the electoral benefits of the developmental work done by it in such colonies. “There is still a lot of work that needs to be done in the area, but now we have roads, free power and water. The AAP government has worked regardless of such a law and has rightful claim on our votes,” he said.

Manoj Singh, a resident of Amrit Vihar, argued that the Bill would not have seen light of day had “Mr. Kejriwal not pushed” the Modi government “to do something.” “This issue would not have been reached where it has had it not been for Mr. Kejriwal pushing the Modi government in this direction,” he argued.

Sheru Gupta, a taxi driver from Indraprastha Colony, agreed. “The BJP has helped pushed the Bill through, of course, but Mr. Kejriwal deserves to come back because he brought policies for free power, water and school education,” he said.

Hemraj Singh, a resident of Amrit Vihar, said Mr. Kejriwal also deserved credit for “nudging” the BJP-led Centre along the “right path.” “The AAP government started the process in November 2015 but the BJP did not act for years. This Bill is a result of the work done by Mr. Kejriwal,” he said.

Over the 20 years of his residing in Sangam Vihar, according to Suresh Kumar, he had, for the first time, seen “at least some civic infrastructure” being built by the State government. “Water is free, alleyways have been improved, electricity is regular. There is still a long way to go but it is better than before,” he said.

Bhagwan Kaur, a resident of the Khadda Colony in Swaroop Nagar, said the colony had come a long way since Mr. Kejriwal came to power. “We still have issues related to garbage collection but the development which we have seen since 2015 — whether the construction of roads in the by-lanes or the provision of free power — is nothing compared to the hellish conditions in this colony before the AAP government came to power,” she argued.

‘50:50’

According to Asha Devi, a resident of the J block in Swaroop Nagar, both the AAP and BJP governments “deserved equal praise” for the “gradually improving” conditions and status of her colony. “We are aware of the work that both governments have put in and people like me, who have four voters at home, will divide our support for both of them [the parties],” she said.

Simranjeet Kaur, her neighbour, said residents of unauthorised colonies like her were “keenly observing” television and newspaper reports related to the proposed implementation of the policy. “We watch and read all the news stories about our colonies which have always been a political issue but not of the stature that they have become this time; as far as we are concerned, both governments have done their bit and should get the credit for it,” she said.