At PM-UDAY camps, residents from Delhi’s unauthorised colonies line up for ‘pakka kaagaz’

The camp on Saturday saw several people about to finally get legal documents that prove they own the properties where they have resided for long, since generations in some cases.

Following the registry or conferment of ownership rights, residents can sell their properties, avail loans against them, and also get plans approved if they want to make changes in the current building or construct structures in a vacant plot for which they have received ownership rights.

Sharma explains why these documents are so important. “In a few years, I am going to get my daughter married and will need a loan for the wedding. If I didn’t have registry papers for my house, the bank wouldn’t have given me a loan against it.”

He is thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Unki wajeh se humare pakke kaagaz ban gaye (We have proper documentation due to him).”

Modi and L-G V K Saxena’s faces adorn the banners of the PM-UDAY scheme. The L-G had directed DDA to expedite PM-UDAY applications in November after the scheme did not see a high number of property registrations for over four years.

According to a reply given by the Union Housing Minister in Parliament in July, of the 1,22,729 applications, only 23,811 have been granted ownership rights under the scheme.

The push to the scheme comes at a critical time, just ahead of the Delhi elections. The approximately 50 lakh residents in Delhi’s 1,731 unauthorised colonies form about one-third of the Capital’s electorate.

“This time, it seems government officials are under pressure to work,” says Navratan Goel (64), who owns a general store. He is about to get his house registered at a camp in East Vinod Nagar. “Earlier, officials used to delay and postpone. Now, they are saying all problems will be resolved and the process will be over today.”

However, not everyone shares their optimism.

Shankar Pandey (65), who installed dental chairs in clinics till 2016, is now retired. Residents of nearby Ganesh Nagar, he and his wife Sunita Pandey have a power of attorney dating back to 1981 for the house where they stay, but it was not accepted as proof of ownership at the Mandawali camp on Saturday.

“DDA officials are saying that some papers are not stamped properly. How do I account for how documents were stamped back then?” Pandey asks as the couple make their second visit to such a camp in two weeks.

Far from Mandawali, Manik Mukherjee (46), a financial broker, faces a similar fate at a camp in Bharat Vihar, Dwarka. In 2016, he had bought his flat that had come up in an unauthorised colony, but a 2021 policy change requires him to show proof of ownership which is from before 2015. He is here with his neighbour Jayant Jha. Residents of a society in Chandra Park, they are frustrated. “It’s not as if they are not taxing us on our property. If they are collecting tax from us, why not recognise our property,” Jha asks.

A DDA official said the camps are being set up to provide “end-to-end disposal” of applications. The helpdesk at the camp initially helps applicants figure out what documents they need and where they should go. The registration desk is for new applicants, who have not applied on the DDA portal.

A private agency has been empanelled to help prepare the documents required for them. A sub-registrar is also present so the final registry with the Delhi Revenue Department is done at the camp.