NEW DELHI: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Friday recommended 307 more stretches on several roads and streets across ten municipal zones in the Capital for notification under mixed land use, commercial use and pedestrian shopping street categories. More than 2,000 stretches have already been notified under the three categories.

The recommendations were made a day after the new MCD Standing Committee was constituted on Thursday following the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the recent municipal polls.

Of the total number of stretches cleared during the second meeting of the Standing Committee, 80 have been recommended for commercial use, 158 for mixed use and 69 for use as pedestrian shopping streets. However, Sadar Paharganj and City Zones were kept out of the exercise in view of the recommendations of the Master Plan for Delhi-2021 to maintain the status quo in these areas. The list will now be sent to the Delhi Government for approval before notification by the Lieutenant-Governor.

In view of the May 7 deadline for identification of stretches under various categories, the Standing Committee members, cutting across party lines, demanded that more time be granted to carry out proper survey of roads. "Over two months were lost in the election process since the notification of the Master Plan-2021 on February 7 and no headway could be made in the identification of roads. Several roads and potential clusters need to be identified for the mixed land use category. We thus demand an immediate amendment in the Master Plan-2021 to grant 90 days more to conduct the survey," said Standing Committee Chairman Vijender Gupta.

Replying to a query on conducting similar surveys in unauthorised colonies, MCD Commissioner Ashok Kumar Nigam said there was no such provision in the Master Plan-2021. "At present there is no provision in the Master Plan-2021 to carry out survey for identification of roads for mixed land use and commercial use in unauthorised colonies. But after these colonies are regularised, as a proposal is already under consideration, a question mark will be put on the fate of commercial units operating from residential premises there. And thus the matter needs to be taken up with the authority concerned on priority basis," said Mr. Nigam.

The Standing Committee also adopted a resolution seeking a one-time amnesty scheme for roads/areas not notified for commercial or mixed land use.

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