DHARNA: Traders belonging to more than 30 trade bodies of West Delhi holding a day-long relay hunger strike at Pankha Road in Janakpuri on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: Political parties, traders and citizens might be making loud noises for immediate implementation of Master Plan for Delhi-2021 to save illegal shops and unauthorised constructions from being targeted by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi squads, but the Centre's affidavit submitted in the Supreme Court last week clearly highlights how various civic agencies have miserably failed to properly implement the Master Plan for Delhi-1962 leading to the present civic mess.

In its affidavit, where the Centre has sought six-month moratorium on the sealing and demolition exercise, the Union Government has stated that various development agencies, particularly the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the Delhi Development Authority and the New Delhi Municipal Council, have failed to develop adequate number of shopping complexes, district centres, community centres and local markets to meet the requirements of the fast growing population in the Capital.

According to the Master Plan for Delhi-1962, the civic authorities were to develop around 350 shops for every 1.5 lakh to 2.5 lakh population, one community centre to meet the requirements of 50,000 people, one shopping centre with at least 20 shops for 12,000-15,000 people and one local mini-market comprising 8-10 shops for a population of 5,000.

And if one goes by the Master Plan specifications, there should have been at least 75 district centres, 300 community centres, 1,250 local shopping centres and 3,000 local mini-markets markets.

But what the government agencies managed to build during the past four decades are nine district centres, 35 community centres, 135 local shopping complexes and 435 small markets.

Accepting that there have been serious lapses in proper town planning of the Capital, the Centre has particularly blamed the MCD and the DDA for failing miserably in their jobs leading to unauthorised constructions and mushrooming of illegal shops on such a massive scale.

Making out a case for allowing mixed land-use in the Capital also as was being promoted across the globe, the affidavit states: "It would be evident from the facts and circumstances of the case, there are not only a lot of ambiguities and contradictions in the matter of notification of the mixed land-use roads right from the time of the first Master Plan for Delhi-1962, but a large number of similarly placed roads have not been notified as eligible for mixed use activities, causing confusion in the minds of the residents as well as enforcement agencies."

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