Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday, 23 June 2026, announced a landmark decision at the 36th meeting of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB): all jhuggi residents living in settlements formed up to 1 January 2025 will now be eligible for rehabilitation benefits — a significant expansion from the earlier cutoff year of 2015.

Context

In her post, CM Rekha Gupta declared: 'दिल्ली में 1 जनवरी 2025 तक बनी सभी झुग्गी बस्तियों के निवासियों को पुनर्वास का लाभ मिलेगा' ('All residents of jhuggi settlements formed in Delhi up to 1 January 2025 will receive rehabilitation benefits'). The decision was taken at the DUSIB's 36th board meeting and aligns with the Delhi Slum and Jhuggi Jhopdi Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, 2026, finalised by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Cabinet colleague Ashish Sood and senior officials from all relevant departments were present at the meeting.

Policy Backdrop

DUSIB was constituted under the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board Act, 2010 as the statutory body responsible for slum surveys, rehabilitation, and resettlement across the national capital. Until this decision, the eligibility cutoff for rehabilitation benefits had remained fixed at the year 2015 — meaning residents of settlements that came up after that year were excluded from formal housing entitlements. The new 2026 Policy, by pushing the cutoff forward by a full decade to 1 January 2025, captures a large cohort of settlements that grew around Delhi's periphery in the intervening years. The move mirrors the thrust of the central government's Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U), which prioritises formal housing with basic civic services for low-income households.

CM Gupta framed the decision as advancing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Garib Kalyan (welfare of the poor) agenda. She noted that the revised policy would pave the way for providing lakhs of families with modern housing equipped with schools, health centres, anganwadis, playgrounds, and other essential amenities — enabling every family to live with dignity, security, and a better future.

Stakeholders and Impact

The beneficiaries are the lakhs of jhuggi-dwelling families in Delhi whose settlements were formed after 2015 and who were previously ineligible for any rehabilitation package. Extending the cutoff date is particularly significant given the rapid pace of unauthorised construction around Delhi's periphery in the post-2015 period. Beyond housing, the policy promises access to a bundle of social infrastructure — schools, health centres, anganwadis, and recreational spaces — which were previously out of reach for residents of unrecognised settlements.

The decision also has political salience: slum rehabilitation has historically been a contentious electoral issue in Delhi, with successive governments at the state and central levels competing to expand coverage. The BJP-led Delhi government under CM Gupta is now positioning this move as a fulfilment of the party's urban-welfare commitments.

What's Next

DUSIB is expected to initiate fresh surveys to enumerate households newly eligible under the 1 January 2025 cutoff, followed by the issuance of allotment letters and the floating of construction tenders under the 2026 Policy. Coordination with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs will be essential for land allocation and funding. Budgetary provisions for the expanded programme are likely to feature in the next Delhi budget. The pace and scale of implementation will determine whether the policy's promise translates into tangible housing for the city's most vulnerable residents.