The government has announced a historic gift for lakhs of poor families who have been living on tin sheets, tarpaulin and mud walls for years in the country's capital Delhi. Delhi Government has officially notified the 'Slum Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy 2026' for the redevelopment of 675 JJ Clusters in the National Capital Region. The direct aim of this ambitious public welfare scheme is to provide a dignified life to about 4 to 5 lakh families (about 20 lakh population) living in slums in permanent flats with modern facilities. For these families, who have been living with promises of rehabilitation from election to election for years, this decision is no less than a life-changing turning point, where the narrow and unhealthy streets of the slums will now be replaced by well-planned multi-storey residential societies.
The most revolutionary and humane aspect of this new rehabilitation policy is its revised cut-off date. Earlier, under the old policy of 2015, only slums built before January 1, 2015 were considered eligible for rehabilitation, due to which lakhs of slum families settled in the last decade were being completely deprived of any government relief. Taking a big step in the public interest, the government has extended this cut-off limit by 10 years to January 1, 2025. This simply means that eligible families living in all the JJ settlements that came into existence before January 1, 2025, will get the guarantee of permanent houses. The policy also provides legal protection that unless an eligible family is allotted an alternative permanent house, its existing slum will not be removed or demolished under any circumstances.
In earlier times, in the name of slum rehabilitation, poor families were sent to the far outskirts of the city (like Bawana or Narela), which posed a serious threat to their employment, daily wages and children's education. In the new policy, this shortcoming has been completely removed and 'In-situ Rehabilitation' i.e. 'where there is a slum, there is a house' has been given legal priority. According to the plan, flats will be constructed on the land of the same slum cluster or within a maximum radius of 3 kilometers from it. With this, the workers' livelihood, household chores and children's schools will remain intact. Until the construction work of multi-storey buildings is completed, it will be mandatory for developers to provide transit camps or rental assistance for these families.
Under the scheme, every eligible family will be given a fully equipped fully equipped 1-BHK flat with at least 25 square meter carpet area. These flats will have the facility of one room, separate kitchen, modern bathroom, toilet and balcony. Keeping in mind the empowerment of women and family security, the ownership of the house will be allotted in the joint name of husband and wife. Apart from this, if there is any disabled member in the family, then that family will be allotted a flat on the ground floor on priority basis so that there is no dependence on stairs or lift. A provision has also been made to impartially investigate the claims of different families living independently on different floors of the same slum structure and consider providing them independent residential units.
Delhi Government, Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) are jointly implementing this mega project on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. Under the first phase of the policy, 17 slums in three major geographical areas of the capital—Seelampur (North-East Delhi), Sultanpuri (North-West Delhi) and Lajpat Nagar (South Delhi) have been identified. 4,870 slums present in these 17 clusters are being removed and replaced by construction of multi-storey towers with modern lifts, sewerage network, wide roads, community buildings and parks. To offset the construction cost, builders will be allowed to do commercial construction on a small portion of the land, thereby providing world class housing facilities to the poor at free and highly subsidized rates without putting any additional financial burden on the government exchequer.
The entire process has been made completely digital and transparent to keep out any kind of corruption, fraud or ineligible middlemen in the rehabilitation process. Geo-tagging of every slum is being done through drone survey and GIS mapping. After this, Aadhaar based biometric verification of beneficiaries and door-to-door verification of eligibility documents (Voter ID, electricity bill or ration card) will be done. The allotment of flats will be done directly on a public platform through a computerized digital lottery system instead of any human recommendation. After the construction of residential complexes, the responsibility of maintenance of basic services like water, electricity, lift and cleanliness will be of the concerned agency for the next 5 years, after which it will be handed over to the Resident Welfare Association. This new policy paves a concrete way to remove the stigma of slums from the urban landscape of Delhi and integrate poor workers into the mainstream of a dignified life.