NEW DELHI | The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) strongly objected to the provisions of the Master Plan 2047 prepared by the BJP-ruled Delhi Development Authority (DDA), calling it a plan for builders’ development rather than Delhi’s. Senior leader and MLA Sanjeev Jha said unauthorised colonies would be handed over to builders in the name of redevelopment, while the complete ban on construction in O-Zone 2 had put 15-20 lakh homes across 91 colonies at risk.
The AAP MLA said this exposed the BJP leaders’ earlier assurances that homes in O-Zone would not be demolished, as houses had continued to be demolished since the BJP government came to power. Sanjeev Jha said the Master Plan was a conspiracy to drive lakhs of migrants from other states who live in these colonies out of Delhi.
Sanjeev Jha said, “The Master Plan 2047 has already been notified in Delhi. On Tuesday, the DDA Vice Chairman called all Delhi MLAs and MPs for a meeting and said that the policy had been prepared after consulting Delhi’s stakeholders.”
If that was the case, Sanjeev Jha said, the meeting should have been held before the policy was implemented, because Delhi’s MLAs and MPs were the biggest stakeholders, having been elected by the people. “But this was not done. The Master Plan appears to be a plan for builders’ development rather than Delhi’s development,” he added.
Sanjeev Jha said, “The biggest issue was the O-Zone along the Yamuna. Since the BJP government came to power in Delhi, the lives of people living in O-Zone had been made difficult and their homes were continuously being demolished. We used to try to save people’s homes, but the houses could not be saved. BJP leaders, MPs, MLAs, ministers and the Chief Minister would say that people living in O-Zone had nothing to worry about and that no one would suffer any loss as long as they were in power.”
He further highlighted, “Karawal Nagar falls in the O-Zone area. An inauguration programme for sewer and road construction had been organised there. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Minister Kapil Mishra and North-East Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari, along with all the other leaders, were present at the programme.”
“When distressed residents expressed apprehension that their homes could be demolished, all the leaders said in one voice that they had nothing to worry about and that confusion was merely being spread in the name of O-Zone. I was saying even then that these people were misleading the public and that a conspiracy was being hatched to snatch the homes of people living in O-Zone,” he added.
Sanjeev Jha noted that now that Master Plan 2047 had been introduced, the demolition of homes was being justified and it had been stated that no new homes could be built there in the future either. He said the booklet provided to them stated on page 29, in the environmental section, that the active floodplain was a no-construction zone. “However, a pushta had subsequently been constructed to protect the colonies settled beyond it, and there had never been any dispute over the area in the name of O-Zone,” he said.
The AAP MLA said that when the BJP government at the Centre introduced the PM-UDAY scheme in 2019, these colonies were designated as O-Zone 2, and he adder, “The area was divided into O-Zone 1 and O-Zone 2. The government had said that people in all colonies in O-Zone 2 had been given conveyance deeds (registries) under PM-UDAY.” He questioned why people were being removed in 2025 if their homes had been registered in 2019, and why all BJP leaders were lying in unison.
Sanjeev Jha said the Master Plan stated that development would also remain restricted in areas outside the active floodplain, or O-Zone 2, and construction would be permitted only for social, cultural or recreational purposes. “I repeatedly asked the DDA Vice Chairman why BJP leaders were still spreading confusion by saying that no one in O-Zone 2 would suffer any loss. In clear terms, the DDA Vice Chairman said that no construction of any kind would be allowed in O-Zone 2,” he said.
Sanjeev Jha said, “This means that all the colonies located between Burari and Badarpur are at risk. Most of these colonies were included in the 2008 list for regularisation during the Sheila Dikshit government. My constituency has Jagatpur village, which was settled before Independence, as well as the very old Wazirabad village. Apart from these, Sangam Vihar, Milan Vihar, Jharoda Part 3, Sonia Vihar, and half of Okhla and Badarpur also fall under the definition of O-Zone 2.”
Sanjeev Jha questioned BJP MPs who had held meetings at various places and said that people would be granted ownership rights once the Master Plan was introduced. He asked why they had lied to the people. South Delhi MP Ramvir Singh Bidhuri had visited Jagatpur village in Burari and said that he would resign if these colonies were not included.
Sanjeev Jha said, “I was surprised that at Tuesday’s meeting, MPs such as Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, Manoj Tiwari and Praveen Khandelwal all said that the DDA Vice Chairman had not consulted them. When they had already made promises to the people, why did they need to speak to the Vice Chairman? Ramvir Singh Bidhuri even said that he was the only member of the DDA Advisory Council, yet he was not consulted. Why did they not raise the matter with their minister, Manohar Lal Khattar?”
The senior AAP leader further said, “This policy was not prepared by the DDA Vice Chairman. The Master Plan came from the Central government. The Chief Minister and Delhi’s Development Minister have repeatedly attended meetings, so why did they not report that the homes of 15-20 lakh people would be taken away?” He said they had gone before the people making promises but had subsequently reached an understanding with builders.
He continued, “There is a conspiracy under this plan to hand over all the land to builders. The plan states that space will be created for eco-parks and recreational use. Redevelopment of unauthorised colonies means that colonies that have existed for years will be handed over to large builders, who will exploit and develop them as they please.”
Sanjeev Jha said their plan was to snatch the homes of migrant people who had come to Delhi from other states, whether Bihar, Uttar Pradesh or Uttarakhand, and were living in these colonies, which the government had wrongly designated as O-Zone. He said, “I want to ask Rekha Gupta where she was. She came to the people making promises and also attended meetings, so why did she not raise this issue? Why did she betray the people living there?”
Sanjeev Jha said the government was saying that no new homes could be built there, and asserted, “I asked what this means. If someone wants to get their house renovated tomorrow, will they demolish it? If someone has vacant land or wants to rebuild their old house, will they be prevented from building? This means they have reduced people’s properties worth crores of rupees to zero overnight. Is their plan to scare people and take away their land?”
Sanjeev Jha highlighted that the Transit-Oriented Development plan stated that people could increase the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) and construct 20-25-storey buildings on land around any metro network, Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) or high-density corridor. However, he said, the government was also stating that people in O-Zone 2 would not be given this permission.
He stated an example that residents would not benefit from the metro land near Jharoda or Sangam Vihar because they lived in O-Zone 2. He said this directly meant that the government wanted to take away their land.
Warning the government, Sanjeev Jha said that if these were the intentions of the BJP government, there would be a major movement in Delhi. “I want to tell all those living in these 91 colonies that even if you are BJP workers, decide whether your party is more important to you or your home. Parties will come and go, but a home is a dream. The BJP is conspiring to destroy and snatch away that dream. The time has now come for us to fight firmly for our roof over our heads. If they conspire to demolish the homes, we will all come out on the streets and strongly oppose their intentions,” he emphasised.
Meanwhile, Kondli MLA Kuldeep Kumar said, “Delhi’s Master Plan is essentially a plan for the hopes and aspirations of the people of Delhi. It determines what the future will look like, how the shortcomings of the previous Master Plan will be addressed and how New Delhi will be developed. However, when the DDA Vice Chairman explained the Master Plan 2047 to us on Tuesday and described the kind of Delhi he envisions, one thing became clear: this is not Delhi’s Master Plan, but a plan for the builder mafia.”
Kuldeep Kumar said the plan paid no attention to how the lives of people living in Delhi’s slums, clusters, unauthorised colonies and villages could be improved. “There is no consideration of how they will receive better facilities, roads and infrastructure. The entire Master Plan is focused on how to construct large high-rise buildings and farmhouses, how to prevent farmers from carving out farmhouses and increase the one-acre limit to two-and-a-half acres. The entire plan has been made for builders so that they can snatch the homes of the poor everywhere in the name of redevelopment,” he added.
Kuldeep Kumar said they had asked why ownership rights had not yet been granted to people living in Delhi’s 45 resettlement colonies, where members of the Dalit community lived. He said hundreds of colonies, including Sundar Nagri, Kalyanpuri, Trilokpuri, Mangolpuri, Sultanpuri and Ambedkar Nagar, fell within his and several other MLAs’ constituencies. He questioned why the government had not granted ownership rights to people in these colonies to date and why there was no mention of this in the Master Plan.
Kuldeep Kumar said, “The plan does mention that new high-rise buildings and developments will have commercial and mixed land use. However, old areas such as the Ghazipur Paper Market, which was allotted 30 years ago and where very little paper-related work takes place today, will not be converted to mixed use. They will change only new areas because they will receive hefty commissions from them.
He added, “Delhi has 11 dairy farms, one of which is in my constituency, Ghazipur. These were established around 1975-76, when Delhi was much smaller. Today, dairy activity there has declined and people have built houses.” He said the government would not convert that land into mixed land use or multipurpose use, but would focus on new construction so that commissions could be earned from it.
Overall, he said, the entire plan had been created not to improve the lives of people living in Delhi today, but for future builder projects and commission-taking. “This was not Delhi’s Master Plan, but entirely a builder plan,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, Ambedkar Nagar MLA Ajay Dutt said, “Tuesday’s meeting with the DDA Vice Chairman made it clear that the Master Plan was notified in the Gazette without consulting any MLA, MP or the people of Delhi. When the plan has already been gazetted and is now being implemented, what is the point of holding this discussion? This plan has been imposed on the people of Delhi.
Ajay Dutt added, “Of Delhi’s approximately 3.5 crore population, there has been no discussion on what facilities will be provided under this plan to people living in resettlement colonies and unauthorised colonies. These areas face severe problems with water, sewage and roads.” He said the DDA had a large amount of land and money, but no plan had been made to open new schools, hospitals and stadiums in resettlement colonies, nor had any provision been made to allocate land for them.
Ajay Dutt said Delhi had 69 affluent colonies that had been struggling for a long time. He questioned how an entire colony could be called affluent simply because one person could be affluent. “There has been no discussion on the development of villages located outside the Lal Dora. The government has directly stated that O-Zone is not being included in the plan. What will happen to the people living in O-Zone beyond the pushta? This plan is focused only on increasing commercial space under the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) policy,” he added.
He continued, “One very important point is that the DDA is determined to sell all its land. Once all the land is sold, where will the space for basic facilities such as Underground Reservoirs (UGRs), Sewage Pumping Stations (SPSs) and parks come from? There are no parks in Raju Park, Krishna Park and Bihari Park in my constituency.”
Ajay Dutt highlighted, “The DDA land is available near Sainik Farms that could have been developed into a park, but the DDA has no concern for people’s needs. This plan is entirely aimed at benefiting builders, and the people of Delhi cannot be happy with it.” If the plan was to be implemented, he said, the government should first discuss it with elected MLAs and residents of the colonies, understand their problems and build consensus.
