How Delhi handles slum rehabilitation has undergone big changes over the past couple of months. Amendments were made to the city’s slum policy, making slum dwellers eligible for getting a flat in place of their current home.The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Wednesday initiated the process of rehabilitation of more than one lakh slum dwellers, in what is seen as one of the first big movements under the Master Plan for Delhi (MPD)-2047.The agency floated Request for Proposals (RFP) for appointment of three Transaction Advisors for preparing feasibility reports for 15 projects covering 45 slum clusters across the city. The clusters comprise approximately 21,229 households spread over 135.74 acres of land.The slum clusters in Badli, Shahdara, Pitampura and Tilak Nagar house the largest number of households to be considered for rehabilitation.The move comes over three months after Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a meeting on slum rehabilitation in the city and directed the DDA and the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) to issue tenders for five slum clusters within 45 days, and to float tenders for at least five public-private partnership (PPP)-based rehabilitation projects every month.A DDA spokesperson said that the transaction advisors will assess rehabilitation requirements, development potential, infrastructure needs, financial viability and suitable implementation models for systematic and sustainable implementation of the projects.The government claims that there are about 675 slums in the Capital. Of these, around half are set up on land owned by various Central agencies, such as Railways, Land and Development Office (L&DO), and the DDA. The nodal agency for rehabilitation of these slums is DDA. The rest are located on land owned by the Delhi government, where the nodal agency is the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), which comes under the Urban Development Department.The rehabilitation process has progressed at an excruciatingly slow pace over the past decade, with only two in-situ projects — Ashok Vihar and Kalkaji, together providing around 4,700 flats — completed so far, both by DDA.Story continues below this adUnder the PPP model, which the government says it will use, private developers come in to construct housing to rehabilitate slum dwellers on a part of the slum land while the remaining land is commercially developed. The underlying rationale is that the developer recovers the cost of building units for slum dwellers by making profits from the ‘free sale’ component. The model was expected to work well since slums are typically located on high-value land.However, the DDA has struggled to attract private developers who cited small land parcels, difficult locations near drains and railway tracks, and frequent litigation.How Delhi handles slum rehabilitation has undergone big changes over the past couple of months. Amendments were made to the city’s slum policy, making slum dwellers eligible for getting a flat in place of their current home.Changes were also made in the MPD-2047. In a bid to attract participation of private developers in slum rehabilitation, developers were allowed to build taller buildings on slum land parcels and sell a higher proportion of that land for profit.Story continues below this adTransferable Development Rights (TDR) were also introduced in the MPD-2047. In the ‘free sale’ component, a developer may not be able to use all the development rights available to build flats, shops, or offices for profit because of the size or location of the land parcel in question, or due to height restrictions. Under the new TDR mechanism, these unused development rights can be used on another plot, or sold to another developer. TDR has been used extensively in Mumbai, particularly to accelerate slum rehabilitation and redevelopment.Devansh Mittal is a Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in the New Delhi City bureau. He reports on urban policy, civic governance, and infrastructure in the National Capital Region, with a growing focus on housing, land policy, transport, and the disruption economy and its social implications. Professional Background Education: He studied Political Science at Ashoka University. Core Beats: His reporting focuses on policy and governance in the National Capital Region, one of the largest urban agglomerations in the world. He covers housing and land policy, municipal governance, urban transport, and the interface between infrastructure, regulation, and everyday life in the city. Recent Notable Work His recent reporting includes in-depth examinations of urban policy and its on-ground consequences: An investigation into subvention-linked home loans that documented how homebuyers were drawn into under-construction projects through a “builder–bank” nexus, often leaving them financially exposed when delivery stalled. A detailed report on why Delhi’s land-pooling policy has remained stalled since 2007, tracing how fragmented land ownership, policy design flaws, and mistrust among stakeholders have kept one of the capital’s flagship urban reforms in limbo. A reported piece examining the collapse of an electric mobility startup and what it meant for women drivers dependent on the platform for livelihoods. Reporting Approach Devansh’s work combines on-ground reporting with analysis of government data, court records, and academic research. He regularly reports from neighbourhoods, government offices, and courtrooms to explain how decisions on housing, transport, and the disruption economy shape everyday life in the city. Contact X (Twitter): @devanshmittal_ Email: devansh.mittal@expressindia.com ... Read MoreStay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on InstagramTags:Delhi Development Authority (DDA)New Delhi