Parking,housing for poor on hold

The site was one of the 25 identified by the MCD for a Rs 550-crore project to construct underground parking lots near markets.

The residents chose the park and swore to take on the MCD in the High Court.   

“The DDA and MCD are determined to raze the park,” stated the residents’ petition in the High Court. They made the Ministry of Environment and Forests,the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the MCD parties in the litigation.

The parking project became a non-starter as soon as the hearings began,and now the MCD cannot wait any longer. “After over a year of litigation,we decided to wait no further,” said senior MCD counsel Ajay Arora. “We cancelled the Shalimar Bagh parking lot and will relocate it,even though the matter is still pending before the court.”

While residents believe the “danger” has passed,their lawyer Sanjeev Sharma is playing it safe.

“We were informed that the MCD,in a meeting of the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority on August 1,communicated its decision to shift the proposed parking facility to some other site,” Sharma said. “But the MCD is yet to give a formal statement in court in this regard.”

The RWA Prabhavi,which represents 3,000 residents of blocks AN and AM,claim the government owed three square metres of green area to each person,with one park spanning over at least 1.5 hectare. They fear a parking lot — an underground one at that — would cost the lives of at least a hundred full-grown trees.

The MCD,meanwhile,swears by its idea of underground parking lots. “Based on site feasibility,parking facilities can be created under open spaces without disturbing green areas,” said a circular produced on record from the Engineer-in-Chief,Town Planning Office.

Another MCD document in court assures the residents that tree-cutting will be done with prior approval of the Forest department along with the provision for compensatory plantation and the parking lot will be completed in a time-bound manner,causing minimal disturbance. Further,a chief engineer will be appointed as a consultant.

“Then why don’t they construct a parking lot under the India Gate lawns?” asked Sandeep Kumar,a resident.

Khanjawala Urban Poor Housing Scheme Khanjawala Village is fighting a two-year-old battle against a Delhi government proposal under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme to set up 28,000 low-cost houses for the urban poor in 945 bighas and 17 biswas of land in their locality.

The villagers,represented by counsel Anand Yadav, blame the government for having “abandoned” its original plan — formed in 1997 — to construct a growth centre for them after spending over Rs 17.37 crore,to now construct flats and settle “slum dwellers” on the land “owned by Gaon Sabha,Khanjhawala”.

They contended that the government action is arbitrary as Panchayat elections were not held. To this,an affidavit filed by Project Director (Rural Development) Tarsem Kumar countered that “it is nowhere laid down that the land of a village is only for the use of villagers. There is no restriction for a person who does not belong to the same village for acquiring the land in that village”.

The statement,filed through senior government counsel Najmi Waziri,clarified that the growth centre plan was abandoned after the Mini-Master Plan “could not be approved by the Central government”.

The affidavit said: “The present scheme is for constructing 28,000 houses for the urban poor in Delhi. Houses built have a subsidy of Rs 1 lakh given by the government under the JNNURM scheme. A large strata of the society can be provided better accommodation through this low-cost housing scheme.”

The government explained that the land was taken on a 99-year lease from the Gaon Sabha on payment of Rs 11,89,88,000 towards lease money. Besides,Rs 2,97,97,00 was paid as two-and-a-half per cent premium for annual ground rent.

“Development of a city state is an ongoing project. The NCT of Delhi has a peculiar mix of internal increase in population and a constant influx of people from other parts of the country,” the government reply said.