The Hindu : Experts blame DDA for NCR failure

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 04, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Experts blame DDA for NCR failure

By Lalit K. Jha

NEW DELHI, FEB. 3. Union Government officials' obsession with Delhi Development Authority is primarily responsible for the National Capital Region concept having failed to take off resulting in massive migration of people to the Capital, feel urban experts. And it is probably for this reason that the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, at a conference this past week-end accused the Union Government of not being serious about strengthening the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB), the experts maintain.

Set up in 1985 through an Act of Parliament, the NCRPB has been given a skeleton staff to plan for more than 30,000 sq. km in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, besides Delhi. The main idea behind the NCR was to deflect urban population and hazardous industries from the Capital to the surrounding areas with the objective of reducing pressure on Delhi so as to achieve a balanced and harmonised development of the region. "But nothing of this sort happened. It has so far remained only on paper. It does not even has a website of its own,'' said a School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) professor.

Urban experts at the Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO) and the Institute of Urban Affairs (IUA) observed that the Union Urban Development Ministry has so far not given due attention to the NCRPB as its officials were "obsessed'' with the DDA as it was the land owning agency in the Capital.

"The DDA remaining with the Urban Development Ministry is the greatest hurdle in the development of the NCR. The Ministry officials are always busy with mundane works of the DDA. The day DDA is transferred to the Delhi Government, as is the case with other States, the NCR would automatically take off,'' experts feel.

Experts were quick to point out that the Draft Regional Plan 2021 of the NCR has been ready for past three years, but was approved only in January this year. Curiously enough the meeting of the NCRPB was held after a gap of more than three years. "This in itself shows how serious the Union Government is about development of the NCR,'' they said.

According to a senior Delhi Government official, the delay was because the Delhi Master Plan-2021 being prepared by the DDA is not yet ready. "Senior officials of the DDA have prevailed upon the Union Urban Development Ministry that the NCR Plan-2021 should be based on the Delhi Master Plan-2021. Whereas, it should be vice-versa,'' he argued.

Agreeing with the views of the Chief Minister, urban experts point at the non-implementation of some of the ambitious infrastructure projects in the NCR just because the Union Urban Development Ministry had not pursued these vigorously or co-ordinated with the State Government concerned.

While the ambitious Ring Road around the NCR is yet to take off, the NCRPB recently approved an integrated rail-cum-bus transit project. "One can never tell when this would take off,'' officials said.

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