Lt Governor (LG) VK Saxena on Friday expressed “displeasure” over the “grave inaction” of the Delhi government and the DSIIDC in providing basic infrastructure to industrial units relocated to different parts of the city even 26 years after a Supreme Court order, officials said.
During a review meeting, Saxena directed fixing responsibility and taking action on erring officers, the Raj Niwas officials said.
Under a DSIIDC relocation scheme launched in 1996, industrial units set up in non-conforming or residential areas in violation of the Master Plan were to be shifted to conforming areas through the allotment of industrial plots. The Delhi State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) had rolled out its industrial relocation scheme in 1996 after an order of the Supreme Court, but the relocated units still lack basic infrastructure such as water, power, transport, and sewer lines, the officials said.
“The LG took grave exception to the non-completion and non-operationalisation of the relocation scheme of the DSIIDC, the industries department (of the Delhi government), despite its launch in 1996 following strict directions of the Supreme Court of India,” an official said.
In total, 51,837 applications were received under the scheme, out of which 27,985 units were found eligible for allotment of industrial plots.
The allotments under the scheme started in 1999-2000 and were completed in 2010, but it lies almost totally non-operational, with basic facilities such as roads, power, sewer lines, water, and transportation still absent from the relocation areas, the officials said.