Manish Sisodia and LG VK Saxena
– Photo: Amar Ujala
Expansion
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena has ordered the Home Ministry to return all files that have been pending at the level of Delhi Home Minister Manish Sisodia for more than a month. This was announced in an official statement from the LG office on Sunday. Under Rule 19(5) of the TOBR, the LG is empowered to deal with dossiers pending before ministers or the Chief Minister in the public interest. This rule forces the government to send the files to the LG. Ongoing files hinder the timely completion of various development projects.
The LG said the files had been pending for years alone due to the Delhi government’s inaction. A religious commission was established following a 2014 Supreme Court ruling recommending that removal of unauthorized religious structures be considered at the request of the landowner. The commission is headed by the Home Secretary of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act (GNCTD) while senior representatives of the Delhi Police and landowners are also involved.
Several major development projects in Delhi have stalled due to restrictions on the removal of unauthorized religious structures, despite the recommendations of the religious committee. The Ministry of Home Affairs of the Delhi government held 78 such proposals from various agencies as of May 2022. In view of this, LG VK Saxena has ordered the withdrawal of all these files. The proposal to remove unauthorized religious structures is related to the construction of the Delhi-Saharanpur Expressway. Decongestion would be achieved by government residential flats and 77 corridors under General Pool Residential Accommodation (GPRA) at such locations, pending 2018. It is necessary to relieve the 77 corridors which have been under treatment for almost 5 years since 2017 due to the omission of the Delhi government. This is very important to ease traffic in Delhi and control air pollution. The Delhi-Saharanpur Expressway (a part of the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway) is a time-bound project, which is monitored at the level of the Prime Minister’s Office.
The LG alleged that the Home Office wrote a letter to Manish Sisodia on December 16 requesting that these matters be approved and sent to the LG. But the files are still pending. According to a note submitted by the Home Office to the LG, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had proposed removing 53 unauthorized religious structures for the construction of government residential flats under the GPRA. Of these, the religious committee had recommended the removal of 51 such structures. Similarly, the religious committee had received proposals to remove 20 unauthorized religious structures built on 77 corridors, of which 15 were recommended to be removed. The commission recommended removing 9 of the 23 unauthorized religious structures so as not to hinder the construction of the six-lane Delhi-Saharanpur Expressway.