Asks DUSIB To Focus On In Situ Rehabilitation; To Be Tried First In 15 Slums In Sultanpuri And Hari Nagar The much debated and repeatedly amended slum re habilitation policy is back on the drawing board again, with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal decid ing to go for in situ rehabilitation instead of relocating slums. The project is likely to be launched in 15 slums in Sultanpuri and two in Hari Nagar in the next few months. The new framework has, how ever, cast a shadow on the future of many families which have been al lotted EWS flats mostly on the peri pheries of areas like Bawana and Narela in northwest Delhi. As per the directives of the lieutenant governor last year, over 8,000 flats were to be allotted by this March The process was put on hold after the 2015 assembly elections were declared. The AAP government is yet to make its stand clear on it. Delhi Urban Shelter Improve ment Board (DUSIB), which has tweaked the slum relocation and rehabilitation policy for allotment of flats built for economically weaker sections several times, is now working out the modalities of executing the first in situ rehabilitation exercise in Sultanpuri of Sultanpur Majra assembly constituency . In a meeting last week, Kejriwal is learnt to have directed DU SIB to focus on in situ rehabilitation so that slum dwellers don't face displacement. The board has also been told that in a case where relocation is the only answer, a vacant plot should be identified within one-two kilometres of the slum so that the residents don't lose their livelihood. Under the first phase, people living in 1,000 households in a Sultanpuri slum will be relocated to 1,000 DUSIB flats at a site about 1.5km from the current location. DUSIB is also working on in situ rehabilitation of 95 slums located on its land and then on around 30 clusters situated on land owned by various government departments and agencies. The city has 675 slums with over three lakh households and 1.5 million slum dwellers. The slums are located on land owned by over 30 agencies, reflecting the failure of the authorities to protect their land and lack of adequate housing in the capital. The vice-chairman of Delhi Dialogue Commission, Ashish Khetan, told TOI that its task orce has studied various rehabil tation models ranging from Mumbai and Chandigarh in India o international ones from Chicago and Brazil. “More than half of the slum dwellers could not meet the eligibility criteria for EWS flats set by DUSIB as they did not have any document and many were living on rent. The land mafia dominat ng many slums has to be defeated o ensure that genuine residents get the right to have a space to stay ,“ he explained. Now the government has decided to explore more eligibility options to help people without any document.These include giving out flats for a ixed period on a monthly licence ee, instead of outright ownership rights. As Delhi tries to finalize its slum policy , the Centre is yet to come out with a national slum policy. What exists is a draft policy of 2001. National urban housing shortage was estimated at 26.53 million during the Eleventh FiveYear Plan (2007-12).