While Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said despite not being in power, the BJP had done so much work for the people, AAP leader Sanjay Singh said, it was a poll promise of the AAP, which was set to be a reality.
"We started the work soon after coming to power. On November 2, 2015, the Delhi Cabinet approved the proposal for regularisation of unauthorised colonies and sent it to the Centre," Singh said.
Welcoming the decision, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said it was in the BJP's election manifesto, which was fulfilled.
Speaking to media, Gupta said the Narendra Modi government was regularising 1,797 unauthorised Delhi colonies by giving ownership right to nearly 50 lakh people living there.
"The Congress and the AAP governments in Delhi continued to dither over the decision. The AAP government wanted two more years till 2021 and was not taking any action despite the central government goading it to act," Gupta said.
The decision had brought a new ray of hope for the most vulnerable sections of the society, he added.
Gupta said the BJP in its 2019 Lok Sabha poll manifesto had promised to regularise these colonies, and the Urban Development Ministry set up a panel, headed by the Lt. Governor.
Kejriwal had misled residents of these colonies by saying the central government wanted to sell them to builders and his misinformation campaign had now been exposed.
The AAP said, the BJP leaders could not complete anything without critising Arvind Kejriwal and his government. "While the BJP was silent for the past 4.5 years, we spent Rs 6,000 crore on development of these colonies. We request the Centre to accelerate the regularisation. Within 24 hours of central approval, we will start the registry work," Singh said.
Singh said regularisation was a longtime demand of the residents of these colonies. Singh requested "Modi, Amit Shah, Prakash Javadekar and the BJP to use the prototype given by the Delhi and take help of satellite images to start the registration process. Till the time the registration begun, the residents will find it difficult to believe the Centre."
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday said a bill for regularisation of unauthorised Delhi colonies would be tabled in the next session of Parliament.
Reacting to it, Kejriwal congratulated the people of Delhi and thanked the central government for clearing the Delhi government's proposal to regularise 1,797 unauthorised colonies.
"We are prepared to give the Centre credit for this decision. I am happy that the Centre has finally cleared our proposal," Kejriwal said.
( With inputs from IANS )