PM-UDAY: Pvt agencies to speed up process of ownership rights

NEW DELHI: As the Centre’s ambitious Pradhan Mantri Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojana (PM-UDAY), under which people living in 1,731 illegal colonies can apply for ownership rights of their properties, is not picking up the pace as expected, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has decided to rope in private agencies to reach out possible beneficiaries and help them to submit their applications.

For that, the authority has invited the applications for empanelment of vendors to facilitate individuals intended to seek benefit under the scheme. The empanelled agencies are expected to create facilitation centres (static or mobile) or provide door-to-door service to help applicants register and upload required documents on the portal specially developed for conferring property rights in unauthorised colonies.

The private companies will be allowed to charge Rs 195 (maximum) for a single application for the entire process. The agency can charge Rs 5 for scanning and uploading of each document separately. “The objective is to help people who are not techsavvy, not educated and don’t possess knowledge. The door-todoor arrangement will encourage more property owners to come forward,” said an official of the DDA.

The PM-UDAY, touted as the biggest poll plank, was launched with much fanfare just before the Assembly elections in Delhi by the Centre in December 2019. The government had announced that about 50 lakh residents living in 1,731 unauthorised c o l oni e s would be benefitted. The issue of regularisation of unauthorised colonies had been dominating the elections in the national capital for about two decades. According to estimates by various agencies, including the DDA, there are about 12.5 lakh residential dwelling units in illegal settlements built on government or agricultural land.

The latest figures show that more than four lakh people have registered on the website and a survey of more than 2.88 lakh properties has been done by GIS agencies. A field survey of 24,703 structures has already been conducted. However, despite efforts by the authorities, only 66,110 applications have been submitted so far, which is 16 per cent of the total registration, and only 5,378 property owners have been given conveyance deed or authorisation slips till March 19.

“For about 7-8 months, the process had come to a complete halt due to a coronavirus outbreak. The Delhi Development Authority held camps, large scale communication programmes and additional manpower to clear the backlog,” said the official.