Overview

• In an open letter in The Indian Express and PTI interview on July 3, former chief secretary Shailaja Chandra demanded CM Rekha Gupta outline urban planning reforms but received no formal response.
• Chandra described Delhi as at a “tipping point,” citing seven million residents in unauthorised colonies, unchecked industrial effluents and a choking Yamuna River.
• She urged the creation of “migration-responsive” housing near employment hubs, temporary shelters for new arrivals and distribution of services based on genuine need.
• Chandra called for an end to retroactive regularisation of illegal settlements, a cap on further encroachments and coordinated enforcement across the DDA, MCD and PWD.
• Highlighting Indore’s waste management success, she recommended household-level segregation, stronger political-bureaucratic alignment and the breakdown of civic agency silos.