New Delhi: Two crucial development plans for Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) — Master Plan for Delhi-2041 (MPD-2041) and Regional Plan-2041 (RP-2041) — have been hanging fire for around two years.
The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is reviewing certain provisions, especially those related to environment and land management, in both the plans after objections were raised by experts, environmentalists and stakeholders, ThePrint has learnt.
According to senior MoHUA officials, the two plans are in the process of being finalised, and will be notified in the next two-three months.
The draft RP-2041 — the vision document for sustainable development in the NCR — was put up for public scrutiny by the NCR Planning Board (NCRPB) in end-2021.
The MPD-2041, which is for planned development of Delhi and proposes to make the national capital a 24-hour city, was put in the public domain by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in June 2020.
“Based on the comments received from the public and stakeholders, the plans are being re-evaluated and necessary changes are being made,” said a senior ministry official.
The Regional Plan-2041 will replace the Regional Plan-2021, which came into force in 2005.
Spread over 55,083 square kilometres, the NCR currently includes Delhi and 24 districts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. According to the RP-2041, the area of NCR is bigger than many states, including Punjab, Uttarakhand, Kerala and Sikkim.
Among other things, the plan has proposed to redefine the area of NCR and limit it to a 100km radius around Rajghat in Delhi.
But the environment-related changes proposed in the draft plan have run into controversy, as environmentalists say they might result in construction activity in the Aravallis, which are protected under RP-2021.
The draft RP-2041, environmentalists say, has deleted key regulations meant to protect the Aravallis, rivers, other water bodies etc.
Like the RP-2041, the MPD-2041 has also got delayed because the ministry and the DDA are reworking provisions related to important policies such as land pooling and green development area — both related to development in greenfield areas — and regulating development in Zone ‘O’ or the floodplain of the river Yamuna, especially after the flooding in Delhi this July.
Asked when the two plans will be notified, a senior ministry official said, “The NCRPB plan is almost finalised and will be tabled in the next board meeting of the NCRPB, which will be held within the next two months. As for MPD-2041, necessary changes related to land-pooling policy are being made to facilitate its swift implementation. The plans will be notified soon.”
ThePrint has reached the spokespersons for the NCRPB, the DDA and the MoHUA for comment by WhatsApp. This report will be updated when a response is received.
‘Some MPD-2041 provisions being reworked’
The MPD-2041 spells out the development road map for the national capital for the next two decades.
The MPD-2041 still awaits approval as many components are being relooked at, senior DDA officials told ThePrint.
Over the past year, core components such as the land-pooling policy had left the MPD-2041 in limbo. The policy’s provisions were seen to require tweaks over doubts about their effective implementation on the ground, the sources said.
Sources at the DDA said a consensus has been reached in connection with land pooling, and the relook — latest in a series of revisits — is centred, among other facets, on provisions looking to allow regulated development in what is currently Zone ‘O’ or the floodplain of river Yamuna.
In July, north and central Delhi experienced widespread flooding, with the water level in the Yamuna breaching the previous all-time record of 207.49m.
Water levels in the Yamuna reached a record 208.66 metres, well above the danger mark of 205.33 metres — due to heavy rains, as well as water released from Hathnikund Barrage, encroachments and jammed gates at a crucial barrage located in the city’s ITO area.
The Union government subsequently directed that provisions related to redefining Zone ‘O’ — to allow regulated development, especially in the 76 unauthorised colonies that have come up in the past four decades — be reviewed.
In the draft MPD-2041, the DDA had proposed splitting the 9933.36 hectares of Zone ‘O’ into two parts: River zone (active floodplain) and riverfront (regulated). The river zone was to be spread over 6,295 hectares, and the regulated riverfront, 3,638 hectares.
A review is also under way for the provisions in the in-situ slum rehabilitation (ISR) component of the MPD-2041, DDA sources said.
“In Delhi, the ISR has not really taken off and the Centre believes that the provisions in the MPD-2041 for the ISR aspect require more substance, in order for it to be effective,” said a DDA official who didn’t wish to be named.
“The DDA has been asked to look at the ‘Mumbai model’, because slum rehabilitation has worked there, and a presentation on this subject will likely be given to the Prime Minister’s Office.”
The source added that, during the past year, the DDA has been struggling with the bids floated for ISR projects, with builders seeking more financial viability.
A.K. Jain, former commissioner (planning) at the DDA, told ThePrint that recurring revisits to the MPD-2041 are largely due to the latter “being a very weak plan”.
He noted that the biggest drawback was the plan not being digitised, for instance, in aspects such as fire safety. “For instance, when there’s an incident where a building catches fire, the urban local body concerned struggles to access basic data on the building’s history and whether it had other necessary provisions in place.”
Jain said the DDA’s land-pooling policy had not worked out since it was first notified in 2013, but the agency continues to invite applications under the scheme, which he termed “baffling”.
“The master plan has to be more inclusive, and this concept of planning for the next two decades has to be done away with. This is because it leads to zero accountability. Instead, the plans should be drawn for a period of five years, and this would, for instance, coincide with the tenure of the Lieutenant Governor and the government concerned and will naturally lead to them having to take accountability,” said Jain.
Also Read: Why Delhi master plan-2041, which aims to make Capital 24/7 city & cut pollution, is hanging fire
‘Regional plan’ crucial for development of NCR
The draft Regional Plan-2041, which was approved by the NCRPB in October 2021, proposed the delineation of the NCR area for more compact development, to promote the concept of “30-minute connectivity” through super-fast trains within NCR, among other things.
It also proposes major amendments in provisions pertaining to the conservation of natural zones.
It is due to these environment-related amendments that the plan has been hanging for nearly two years. While the NCRPB had received all suggestions/objections by January 2022, the draft is yet to be finalised.
According to an NCRPB official, “The draft, after amendments based on the suggestions/objections received, has to be first approved in a meeting of the NCRPB, which has members from all the state governments and central government officials, before it is sent to the MoHUA for notification.”
The NCRPB has not held any board meeting since October 2021, according to the information available on its website. Although a meeting was called on 5 July last year to discuss the Regional Plan, it was cancelled.
According to another senior MoHUA official, the main issue holding up the notification of the plan are provisions related to amendment in the ‘Natural Conservation Zone’, as mentioned in the Regional Plan-2021.
Under the RP-2021, the zone is demarcated as, “The major natural features, identified as environmentally sensitive areas, are the extension of Aravalli ridge in Rajasthan, Haryana and NCT-Delhi, forest areas, the rivers and tributaries of Yamuna, Ganga, Kali, Hindon and Sahibi, sanctuaries, major lakes and water bodies such as Badkhal lake, Suraj Kund and Damdama in Haryana sub-region and Siliserh lake in Rajasthan etc.”
The draft RP-2041 seeks to replace the ‘Natural Conservation Zone’ with ‘Natural Zone’ and it is defined as: “The major natural features in NCR which are environmentally sensitive are to be identified as Natural Zone (NZ). Natural Zone is a zone comprising any natural features such as mountains and hills, rivers and water bodies created by the action of nature.” The draft plan has also done away with the restriction on construction activity in the Aravallis.
Environment activists are opposing the removal of Aravallis from the natural zone, and thus the limits on construction within.
“In the draft Regional Plan-2041, the ‘Natural Conservation Zone’ as mentioned in the present plan has been changed to ‘Natural Zone’. There is no mention of Aravallis and the provision limiting construction to 0.5 percent in the natural conservation zone has been deleted,” said Gurugram-based environmentalist Chetan Agarwal.
“If this plan is notified, it will result in large-scale construction in the Aravallis, which should be protected. We want the government to restore the provision mentioned in the RP-2021,” he added.
While the regional plan is yet to be notified, the NCRPB has started inviting bids for preparation of functional plans for various aspects such as tourism and heritage, health, education, and digital NCR sectors.
According to the Request for Proposal document for preparation of functional plans, which is available on the NCRPB’s website, “It is expected that the functional plans will provide strategies, approaches, guiding principles, list of identified infrastructure projects with cost estimates, location specific proposals/details, etc. in line with the overall policies and proposals of the RP-2041.”
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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