Delhi: 2 Slums on Pink Line’s Alignment to be Removed by August
This is the most significant piece of news this week!
Last year I had written about 3 places in Delhi where land acquisition for the 58.59 km Pink Line was still not complete due to the Delhi Government’s hand-off approach in rehabilitating slum dwellers at 2 of these places, namely Punjabi Bagh & Mayapuri in west Delhi. The government insisted that it was busy in coming up with a new Rehabilitation and Resettlement policy in order to be fair and make sure the right beneficiaries become eligible for permanent housing. This new policy finally came through late last year, but was not enforced right away.
Now here’s the good news. Yesterday, the Chief Minister of Delhi finally woke up and ordered the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) to rehabilitate residents at both slums to the economically-weaker-section (EWS) flats in Baprola, just north of Najafgarh.
Gaps in the Pink Line’s viaduct due to slums – view Delhi Metro map & information
Punjabi Bagh – 125m wide gap – Slums occupy land just north of the Najafgarh drain:
Mayapuri – 180m gap – Slums occupy land along the Ring Road just north of the railway tracks:
As per VK Jain, CEO of DUSIB:
DUSIB will relocate slum dwellers by August. It was decided that DMRC’s case would be taken on priority as it has been stuck since 2013. In the last survey conducted in 2013, as many as 23 slums were identified as high priority zones. But, only 47 per cent of the dwellers were eligible. Under the new policy, which has January 1, 2015, as the new eligibility cut-off date, 90 per cent people will be covered. (The Hindu)
L&T officials from the CC-28 project and Mangu Singh, DMRC’s MD, have always maintained that they would need just 4 months to wrap construction up once the land is handed over to them. If things with the rehab go as planned, then the completion of the balance work at these 2 sections by New Years will very nicely coincide with the completion of the Majlis Park – Azadpur section’s tunneling works which were recently revived after 2 years. With the last few pieces of the puzzle now falling in place, I now expect trial runs on the Mukundpur – Lajpat Nagar section to begin in the 1st quarter of 2017.
Now hopefully the last major issue at Trilokpuri is quickly resolved as well. That one is slightly trickier and sensitive.
For more updates on Delhi’s metro, check out the Delhi section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
Great news. Without a committed state govt., land acquisition will always remain a big problem for the Metro. What will happen to the slum area after the construction of the overhead line is completed?
I hope that the L&T estimate of 4 months is correct, but I think Punjabi Bagh is going to be trickier than that. The obstruction is not only the shanties, but also a high-tension power transmission line which will have to be rerouted first. Though to be fair that is only how it looks when I pass by that area – maybe they have something else planned.
And what about trilokpuri it is also on pink line
Good news finally..I hope the construction on this stretch gets completed by year end. I dont think the high tension power line at punjabi bagh will be a big problem. The DMRC solved a similar problem at britannia chowk within 2 months time by increasing the height of power lines.
And what about trilokpuri that is also on pink line.
The real reason for the delay which people fail to realise is the fact that the new rehabilitation policy was gathering dust at LG’s office for the last few years. The central government controls the governor and were sitting on it.