For Delhi, Centre's Big Housing Promise Days Before Civic Polls

Ahead of the civic body polls in Delhi, the BJP today promised that people will be allowed to construct much more on a plot under the Master Plan 2041. A near doubling of the Floor Area Ratio — as to how much covered space can be built on a plot — will help cater to an ever-rising population of the national capital, Union Housing Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said at a press conference.

The BJP leader said it'll help people "redevelop or reconstruct their old dilapidated structures with provision of enhanced FAR to make their living condition better and safe". 

The FAR has, over the past six decades, gone up from 133 in the 1962 plan, and was then upped to 167 in the year 1981 under the Master Plan 2001. Last year it went up to 200. In Master Plan 2041 that's to be approved now, a "regeneration FAR" — applicable to demolishing and rebuilding — has been planned, to range from 260 to 340. "Larger the plot size, higher the FAR," said the minister. 

Mr Puri spoke at length about schemes carried out by the Delhi Development Authority, which is under the union ministry he handles. 

In Delhi's multi-dimensional — and often confusing — governance setup, the DDA is among wings that come under the central government, while the Delhi government handles most other wings. This has led to a series of run-ins between the Centre's ruling BJP and Delhi's AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal.

Now the fight is over the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, which covers sanitation and several other services at the street level. The BJP ran the civic body for 15 years until its three area-wise corporations were reunified and elections called. 

Voting is on December 4, and results are to be out on the 7th.

In pitching DDA schemes as part of the campaign, Hardeep Puri underlined that Delhi, which has an area of about 1,500 sq km, had a population of 1.6 crore as per the Census 2011, which is likely to near 3 crore by 2041. 

"The BJP government [at the Centre] has taken steps to improve the living conditions of jhuggi (slum) dwellers as per the guidelines of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban)," he said, promising that such people live in 675 clusters. 

He said that of these, 376 clusters (1.72 lakh households) are on DDA and central government land, and 210 have been surveyed for allotting rehabilitation flats. "Survey work of the remaining 166 will commence immediately after municipal elections and will be completed by March 2023," Mr Puri promised. 

He cited 3,024 flats allotted in Kalkaji recently.

Targeting the AAP, he claimed that in the 299 slum clusters where the responsibility for rehabilitation is on the Delhi government, "unfortunately, no work has been carried out till date".

The AAP has centered its campaign around the issue of sanitation, blaming the BJP for the "mountains of garbage across the city".