NEW DELHI: The Union Urban Development Ministry is not planning to file any new petition in the Supreme Court in connection with the sealing operations in the capital as it has given relief to traders.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has been asked to prepare a new list of roads where commercial activities can be allowed under the mixed land use category and get court clearance. "This will give relief to small traders," Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy said on Saturday. The court had cleared 2,183 roads for mixed land use.

He was talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a two-day seminar on urban reforms in the context of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission here.

On the master plan for Delhi-2021, Mr. Reddy said efforts were being made to ready it as soon as possible. But there would be some delay, as reports of three committees on unauthorised slums, unauthorised constructions and on farmhouses were awaited.

Earlier, addressing the concluding session of the seminar, organised by the Association of Municipalities and Development Authorities, Mr. Reddy said urbanisation was not only a necessary but also desirable phenomenon. "That less than 30 per cent of our population lives in urban areas is not something to be proud of and we have to change this mindset."

Wishing away or removing the poor and those living in the slums was not the answer to urbanisation, which most saw as a prerogative of the rich. "We have to make long-term plans where the rich and the poor are integrated in a system. Our first priority is availability of drinking water, sewage and drainage."

Low-cost housing

Land cleared by removal of slums should be used for building low-cost houses for the poor. "We can sell the land through auction and pay the builders to take up low-cost housing projects. But we will have to see that it does not become a builder-driven phenomenon."

With the issue of sealing and demolitions becoming the dominant theme during his tenure, Mr. Reddy said it highlighted the challenges of urbanisation.

The Rent Act and the Land Ceiling Act proved not only impractical but also counter-productive. There was an urgent need to reduce stamp duty and make property transactions transparent. Also the rich should be taxed and the poor charged only nominal or no fees.

Call for sectoral plans

Among the recommendations made at the meet were putting in place sectoral plans for the facilities of water, sewer, solid waste disposal and power generation, taking care of surrounding areas and integrating them in the plan, framing a proper rehabilitation policy, setting up State-level planning and development boards, providing clarity to urban land use and giving a fillip to informal markets or night markets.

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