The Hindu : New Delhi News : RWAs lambast new Master Plan

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Sunday, Jan 21, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

RWAs lambast new Master Plan

Staff Reporter

"Another `political document' catering to the Capital's political constituency"

NEW DELHI: Supposed to be a vision document for planned development of Delhi, the draft Master Plan for Delhi-2021 approved by the Delhi Development Authority on Friday has come in for severe criticism from various residents' welfare associations, city planners and civil society groups who have termed it as another "political document" catering to political constituency.

According to the United Residents' Joint Action (URJA), an apex organisation of RWAs, a large section of civil society and planners is disturbed over the recent developments.

Its convener Atul Goyal said on Saturday: "The changes in the Master Plan focus on demand accommodation, not supply management. At some point the city's ability to generate services and carrying capacity will break down. The Master Plan document as articulated does not balance this demand accommodation with supply planning to channel the city's growth in a sustainable, viable manner."

To use RTI Act

In order to bring out the truth on how the Plan document was prepared, civil society groups, including the RWAs and planners, have decided to use their right to question the basis of the Plan by using the Right to Information Act to find out exactly how many objections filed with the DDA had been incorporated into the new Master Plan, what the recommendations of the committees and working groups set up by the DDA had been and how many of these recommendations were accommodated in the new Master Plan.

Town planner and convener of the New Delhi People's Alliance Alpana Kishore said: "The draft MPD-2021 is poorly planned and a sure disaster recipe for the residents of the Capital. It is a Plan without vision for the city as it is short-sighted and based on electoral necessity."

Concurring with the view, People's Action president Sanjay Kaul charged: "This is not a Master Plan for a city. It is solely a response to political considerations and does not apply itself to the considerations required by planning parameters. The proposed Master Plan does not address all sections of society and limiting its scope to cater to a narrow segment makes it a skewed document unable to address the real needs and concerns of the city that go beyond the narrow political scope."

Eminent city planner Kuldip Singh also expressed similar views. "This short-sighted document does not address the real carrying capacity of the city, its population, nor has it taken into account the massive load the new regulations and notifications would impose on the city. It has also raised a giant question mark over the methodology used for it and the logic used for the regulations and classifications contained in it."

"Where is the tangible vision for the city?'' questioned MIT-educated planner Arun Rewal, who has worked for the City of Dallas in the planning department.

"This is a fixer plan -- it fixes things for some people. But legalising alone can't work without considering how the city will grow after that and what the realities of the situation will be on the road ahead? Nothing has changed -- the regulations are as randomly imposed as before without any coordinated logic or holistic vision. This can only postpone problems, not solve them."

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