New Delhi: The Modi government has divided the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs into two departments—one specifically to handle issues related to Delhi and the National Capital Region, and the other to cater to urban development matters, including planning and coordination of urban transport systems across the country.
The Department of Capital Development (DoCD) and Department of Urban Development (DoUD) were created from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), a notification issued on Wednesday said.
In creating two departments with two different secretaries and officers, the Modi government has signalled greater focus on planned urban development in the Capital and across the country, though it comes at cost to its philosophy of minimum government-maximum governance.
Late on Thursday night, the government appointed D. Thara, a 1995 batch Gujarat cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, as the new DoCD secretary, and Satendra Singh, a 1995 batch Jharkhand cadre IAS officer, as MoHUA secretary in place of incumbent Srinivas R. Katikithala, who has been transferred to Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.
Thara was the additional secretary in MoHUA, handling Delhi division, while Singh was an additional secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat.
Mandate of two depts
Some of the most crucial issues such as managing lands or buildings in Delhi, except for those belonging to the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Railways, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space will be handled by the DoCD as will allotment of government land in the Capital.
Before the division, all matters related to Delhi came under the Delhi division of the MoHUA. The ministry is currently led by Cabinet Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Minister of State Tokhan Sahu. The bureaucracy in the ministry is headed by a secretary, two additional secretaries and seven joint secretaries.
The Delhi Development Authority, Central Public Works Department, administration of government estates, including government hostels under the control of the housing ministry, location or dispersal of offices in or from the metropolitan cities, allotment of accommodation in Vigyan Bhawan will also come under the DoCD.
The department will also be responsible for the redevelopment of the Central Vista. Besides, it will also handle the Master Plan of Delhi, coordination of work in respect of the Master Plan and slum clearance, erection of memorials in honour of freedom fighters in the Capital and development of government colonies, the Delhi Water Supply and Sewage Disposal Undertaking of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
Apart from Delhi, all matters related to planning and development of the National Capital Region and administration of the National Capital Region Planning Board Act, 1985 will also come under DoCD.
The National Capital Regional Transport Corporation, which runs the Regional Rapid Transit System, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, administration of Delhi Hotels (Control of Accommodation) Act, 1949 (24 of 1949), the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 and the Delhi Urban Art Commission, the Delhi Urban Art Commission Act, 1973 will also come under DoCD.
The Department of Urban Development (DoUD), on the other hand, will be responsible for planning and coordination of urban transport systems including bus transport and roads, fixing of maximum and minimum rates and fares for rail-based urban transport systems.
DoUD will also be responsible for tramways, including elevated high speed trams within municipal limits or any other contiguous zone, town and country planning; matters relating to the planning, and development of metropolitan areas, etc.
The constitution and powers of the municipal corporations (excluding the Municipal Corporation of Delhi), municipalities, excluding the New Delhi Municipal Committee, other Local Self-Government Administrations, excluding Panchayati Raj Institutions, will also come under DoUD.
The department will also formulate housing policy and programme (except rural housing which is assigned to the Department of Rural Development), implementation of the specific programmes of Urban Employment and Urban Poverty Alleviation, including other programmes evolved from time to time. The DoUD will also administer the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.
Not the first time
From the name of the ministry to merger and demerger, over the years, MoHUA has gone through several changes.
Soon after the Modi government came to power in 2014, as part of its minimum government-maximum governance mantra, it started the process to merge two Union ministries—urban development (UD) and housing and urban poverty alleviation (HUPA). It was eventually in 2017 that the two ministries were merged into one—MoHUA. Originally, it was one ministry. In 1952, it was known as Ministry of Works, Housing and Supply. It was renamed as ministry of Urban Development in 1985.
In 1995, a new department of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation was carved out of the ministry and it was renamed Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment. Again two new departments were carved out of it—Department of Urban Development and Department of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation. These two departments were merged again in 1999.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)