Centre announces regularisation policy for Delhi’s 1,511 unauthorised colonies

While the government had rolled out Pradhan Mantri-Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojana (PM-UDAY) scheme in 2019 to grant ownership rights to those living in unauthorised colonies, the scheme was slow to take off, as it was mandatory to have the area’s layout plan approved by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) before an individual homeowner could apply for ownership rights and regularisation of the building plan.

Now, an approved layout plan is not necessary anymore.

“This is the first step towards planned development of Delhi,” Gupta said, adding that it would benefit the around 50 lakh residents of these colonies.

Under the new policy, which will be rolled out through the MCD’s SWAGAM portal on April 24, the land-use of all plots and buildings in the colonies would be treated as residential, the government said.

Residents in these 1,511 colonies will be able to get a building plan made by any architect empanelled by the MCD and apply for regularisation. Earlier, it was mandatory to have a layout plan of the area sanctioned, a requirement that has now been removed.

The applicants would have to have the buildings plans of their property prepared by any architect from the around 700 who are empanelled with the MCD. These would then be uploaded on the MCD’s portal.

The MCD will issue the certificate of regularisation and the Delhi Revenue department will issue conveyance deeds for those buildings that have come up on government land and authorisation slips for those on private land.

This, MoHUA Additional Secretary D Thara said, would make the properties “bankable” — the owners would be able to take loans against the same.

Manohar Lal said that in the future, if residents of an area come together, they can apply for redevelopment of the colony as well in accordance with MCD norms.

The policy covers 1,511 of the 1,731 unauthorised colonies of Delhi, as the remaining are either in the O Zone (Yamuna Floodplain), forest or ridge area, affluent colonies or otherwise outside the purview of the scheme, the CM said.

Calling it a transformative step, Gupta said, “A lack of basic amenities has long caused hardship, and to address this, Rs 800 crore has been earmarked in the 2026-27 Budget to strengthen infrastructure. The Centre’s decision, has now paved the way for faster development and a tangible improvement in the quality of life of residents.”

“Delhi’s population has nearly doubled over the last two decades — from around 1.5 crore to nearly 3 crore. The city today has thousands of unauthorised colonies, around 675 slum clusters and more than 350 villages, many of which have seen unplanned and unregulated growth over the years,” she added.

Around 4.5 million people are expected to benefit from the move, the CM further said.

The PM-UDAY portal has been run by the DDA so far, but the Revenue department will soon take it over. Until January 25, according to a reply by the MoHUA in the Rajya Sabha in February, DDA had only issued 20,228 conveyance deeds and 18,462 authorisation slips under PM-UDAY.

Asked about new construction in these colonies, Manohar Lal said all new buildings will require approval from the MCD, which will conduct regular drone surveys to identify new buildings.

Manohar Lal and Gupta also spoke about DDA’s amended Transit Oriented Development (TOD) policy that was notified on Monday. The new policy makes it mandatory for developers who want to participate to use at least 65% of the area for residential units less than 100 sq m. This, the Minister said, would lead to the creation of affordable housing stock along the transit nodes. About 21,000 hectares of land, that is 500 m on both sides of existing and planned Metro and regional rapid transit corridors, would be open for development, an official said.

Meanwhile, Manohar Lal said the pending Delhi Masterplan 2041, which was expected to be notified in 2021, is likely to be approved soon by the government. He also said that the proposal for new rates for conversion from leasehold to freehold of DDA and Land and Development Office (L&DO) properties would be sent to the Cabinet soon. As of now, both the DDA and the L&DO are not accepting applications as the new rates are yet to be finalised.