The Hindu : New Delhi News : ‘95 per cent people protected from sealing’

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Saturday, May 03, 2008
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New Delhi

‘95 per cent people protected from sealing’

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Government committed to providing relief to those left out of Master Plan for Delhi-2021: Ajay Maken

MCD asked to send the pending list of roads for notification
“Traders in the special area would not be allowed to suffer”

NEW DELHI: “The Master Plan for Delhi-2021 has already provided relief to more than 95 per cent of the Capital’s citizens facing sealing and the Government is further committed to providing relief to those who had been left out for some reason or the other by moving specific amendments therein,” according to the Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken.

Talking to the reporter, the Minister said the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had been asked to send the already surveyed pending list of roads and stretches for notification to the Delhi Government. He said the Centre was also considering permitting more activities and items in small shops measuring up to 20 square metres in DDA flats in addition to the already permitted 24 types of activities.

Similarly, he said, projections in the form of “chhajjas” (protrusions) that are over 10 to 12 feet above the ground level may also be allowed as they do not cause obstruction to traffic.

Mr. Maken said as regards the amendments, the process had started and they would be notified in about a month from now after the completion of necessary procedure. Elaborating on the amendments that would provide relief, he said it would give relief to shops measuring up to 20 square metres on the ground floor. This matter would be fixed according to the number of dwelling units permissible on the plot size, subject to a maximum of four.

Likewise, he said, registration of shops and commercial establishments in special areas that includes the Walled City, Chandni Chowk, Karol Bagh, Paharganj and Sadar Bazar would be resumed for a period of 90 days without any penalty.

In urbanised villages, regularised unauthorised colonies and village areas where no survey for establishing the extent of commercial use for notification as mixed use or commercial streets had been carried out, it would be done within six months from the date of amendment, he added.

In some of the villages, the “Lal Dora” area had been extended by the Government while in others that was not the case. Therefore, Mr. Maken said, to maintain uniformity in the use of land in these villages, the area within the Lal Dora or “firni” road is the limit up to which the Lal Dora has been generally extended and this would now be treated as residential use zone.

The Master Plan for delhi-2021 would also permit use of the basement for any professional activity. Also, he said, as most of the residential development is envisaged in group housing flats, for the benefit of school children in these flats, tuition centre or coaching centres for school children would be permitted in all such flats. The benefit of these centres on a maximum built-up area of 500 square metres without plot size restriction would now also be available in the pre-1962 colonies including A and B category colonies on roads having a minimum width of 9 metres as in these colonies wider roads were not provided when they came into being.

Keeping in view the difficulties of regularised unauthorised colonies and villages where the MCD did not survey the roads or areas properly or did not survey some of these areas at all for identification of mixed use, commercial areas and streets, six more months would be allowed for the survey.

Mr. Maken said traders in the special area would also not be allowed to suffer. As stated by the MCD in March this year, he said, they would not have to pay ten times the annual conversion charges as penalty for having not paid the registration and payment of conversion charges by June 30, 2006, for the year 2006-2007.

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