New Delhi: Central govt will now deal with issues related to Delhi’s O-Zone, which is the protected Yamuna floodplain area. The Union housing and urban affairs ministry will coordinate with agencies on demarcation, land ownership and the status of settlements in the floodplain area.In a letter to South Delhi MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, Union minister of state Tokhan Sahu said the ministry has held five high-level meetings with stakeholders on April 6, June 8, July 6, July 29 and Aug 18. In the latest meeting, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) sought additional time to compile information from various agencies.The exercise includes demarcating the floodplain and O-Zone boundaries and identifying land ownership and agencies holding title to the land.Sahu said the matter was pending before Delhi High Court in a case involving Vijay Kumar Diwakar and South Delhi Municipal Corporation. Govt’s further action will also depend on the court’s decision, he said.Bidhuri had raised the issue in the Lok Sabha, seeking relief for residents of settlements in the O-Zone. He said the area had govt buildings such as Delhi Secretariat, Akshardham temple, Commonwealth Games Village and Madanpur Khadar resettlement colony.The O-Zone issue raised by Bidhuri refers to the ban on residential construction, structural repairs and land regularisation in specific environmentally sensitive areas on the Yamuna floodplain. Under the Delhi Master Plan, the O-Zone is a protected riverbed zone.As these areas are protected, thousands of families living in decades-old 100-150 colonies here face the continuous threat of demolition.According to Bidhuri, 92 colonies were regularised in 2008 but were subsequently included in the O-Zone, along with 12 ancient villages inhabited for centuries. A draft central govt notification issued on Sept 28, 2013, proposed removing these areas from the O-Zone, but the matter has remained unresolved.Bidhuri has demanded that the 92 colonies and 12 villages be removed from the O-Zone and be included among the 1,511 regularised colonies as this would provide relief to around 15 lakh residents.
