New NOC rule not allowing MLAs to carry out work, says Bharadwaj

New Delhi: AAP minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Wednesday claimed MLAs were finding it difficult to carry out work in unauthorisedcolonies due to a new rule brought in by officials under which only the agency that had land-owning jurisdiction in the area could execute projects there.
There are several agencies in Delhi, including MCD, irrigation and flood control, PWD, ASI and DDA, each with separate jurisdictions over land and forests.
Speaking in the assembly, Bharadwaj said, “Before our govt came to power, MLALAD funds were not used in unauthorised colonies and cooperative societies. But after we formed govt, we made some (rule) changes and these funds could then be used in unauthorised colonies as well as private colonies.”
From 2015 till 2023, most works could be carried outin unauthorised colonies using MLALAD funds, he said. The MLAs, he added, used whichever agency, whether it was irrigation and flood control or MCD, that was best suited to ensure the work wasdone quickly.
“But in 2023, some officers conspired against the people of Delhi. A letter was written by the MCD commissioner to the principal secretary, flood control, stating only the landowning agency could work in a specific area and if another agency had to work, an NOC should be taken,” he said.
He said he wrote to officials not to issue such orders as it would lead to a multiplicity of agencies, but an order was still issued through some lower-rank officers.
“Now, in some areas where irrigation and flood control has given estimates and funds and works have been sanctioned, they (officials) have said that till an NOCis given, work cannot be done. MCD says it does not have the provision of an NOC,” Bharadwaj said.
Ideally, he added, officers should have searched for asolution and there shouldhave been a guideline forseeking an NOC.
Alleging a “conspiracy”, he told MLAs they should get their work done from the irrigation and flood department as “MCD was trying to stall it”. “There is a cabinet note of ours. If flood (department) makes an estimate, then MCD has nothing to do with it,” he said.
MLA Sanjeev Jha interrupted Bharadwaj, saying the LG’s office passed an “illegal” order stating that any agency wanting to work in any area will have to seek an NOC from MCD “to stop work being duplicated”. “How will govt work if the LG passes an executive order parallelly?” he said.
Leader of opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said MCD cannot be a land-owning agency in unauthorised colonies as these are gram sabha lands. “Delhi govt is the land-owning agency,” he added.
To this, Bharadwaj said, “Even Bidhuri ji has said MCD is not the land-owning agency in unauthorised colonies.”
He added that saying that an NOC should be taken for development in these colonies through the LG’s office, who had nothing to do with it, is “wrong”. “The LG should abstain from these things,” he said.