Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 31: In order to fast track the process of regularization of un-authorized colonies within the jurisdictions of Jammu/Srinagar Development Authorities, a high-level meeting was held here today under the chairmanship of Minister for Housing & Culture, Raman Bhalla.
MLAs Prof.Chaman Lal Gupta, Ashok Khajuria, Javed Mustafa Mir and Irfan Shah were also present in the meeting.
Several issues related to the regularization of all un-authorized colonies situated in Jammu and Srinagar cities were discussed in depth and all the participants strongly advocated for immediate regularization of all such colonies so that the benefits of various social and development programmes ensured to the inhabitants to these areas.
The meeting opined that the residents of about two dozen unauthorized colonies in Jammu and Srinagar cities, who are mostly poor people, have remained without the benefits of several welfare schemes launched by the Central Government and it is high time to regularize these colonies to extend such benefits to the people.
The Committee issued instructions to the officers of JDA/SDA and J&K Housing Board to expedite the process and make necessary recommendations so that the Government is able to take an appropriate decision on the issue. The officers were directed to clear all the bottlenecks and come up with the concrete proposal to get the formal nod of the Government, the meeting asserted.
The MLAs shared the concern of the Government for addressing this long outstanding issue on merit and maintained that this is a human issue and needs to be decided on priority. They opined that the proposed areas should be regularised on the analogy of 13 colonies, which were regularized in 2005 and making the process simplify as the residents of such areas are mostly belonging to the poor and marginal sections of the society.
The Minister said Government wants to take a decision on this issue with people friendly approach and taking everybody on board so that aspirations of the poor people are addressed amicably. He said Government is aware about the problems of the residents of all such areas and it is an admitted fact that several benefits under the Central Government’s flagship programmes could not be implemented as they lacked basic formalities like dispute in the title of ownership.
Mr. Bhalla directed the officers to dispose of all the pending issues after thorough scrutiny in the light of fresh suggestions from the MLAs so that the matter is discussed at the appropriate fora for final decision. He directed the concerned to complete the exercise in a most transparent and careful manner so that all the deserving areas are covered.
Mr. Bhalla said that with the regularization of all these illegal colonies, the large population hailing from the poor sections will be benefited with the several welfare schemes of the Government of India.
The proposed colonies for regularization included, Sanjay Nagar, Balmiki Colony, Shiva Colony, Channi Rama, KachaTalab, Goswami Colony, Hyderpora (Janipur), Puran Nagar, part of New Plot, Vikas Nagar, Shant Nagar, Qasim Nagar, Kabir Colony (BC Road), Indira Colony (Janipur), Gorkha Nagar, Jogigate/Gujjar Nagar (left out), BasantVihar, Gorkh Nagar Extension Bahu Fort, Mohalla Masjid Bagh-e-Bahu, NaiBasti/Rampura, Khandey Colony, Nowgam and Parimpora etc.
Among those present on the occasion included, Commissioner/Secretary Housing & Urban Development, Jeet Lal Gupta, VC JDA, Satesh Nehru, VC SDA, M. S. Rather, Commissioner JMC, K.L. Khajuria, Managing Director, J&K Housing Board, KiranWattel, Secretary J&K Housing Board, Ram Paul Sharma, Jt. Commissioner, SMC, Mushtaq Ahmed and officers of Revenue Department.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel