REGIONAL PLAN 2001
NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION
(Approved by the Board of November 3, 1988)
National Capital Region Planning Board
Ministry of Urban Development
Government of India
December, 1988
PLANNING TEAM
K.K. Bhatnagar
Member Secretary
B.N. Singh
Chief Regional Planner
S. Arunachalam R.P. Rastogi
Senior Planning Engineer Regional Planner
V.K. Thakore Sanjai B. Verma
Senior Research Officer Associate Planner
P. Jayapal J.N. Barman
Assistant Planner Assistant Planner
Manmohan Singh D. Madhu Babu
Research Officer Assistant Planner
Sunila Hooja Gurdeep Singh
Planning Assistant Planning Assistant
(up to 5.8.1988)
Administration, Accounts & Secretarial Assistance
Pran Nath K.L. Sachar
Deputy Director Finance & Accounts Officer
A.B. Saxena Roshan Lal
PS to Member Secretary Jr. Accounts Officer
Mohinder Pal Kamlesh K. Bhardwaj
PS to Chief Regional Planner Accounts Assistance
Deepak K. Verma P.K. Jain
Assistant Accounts Assistant
Bijender Singh Harsh Kalia
Jr. Steno Jr. Steno
Satnam Kaur Anika Kushwaha
Jt. Steno L.D.C.
Bahadur Singh Mani Lal
L.D.C. Driver
Ram Phal
Driver
Group D
Balwir Singh Ramkishan Huda
Kartar Singh Ravinder Kumar
Ganesh Prasad Ranbir Singh
Satpal
FOREWORD
The National Capital Region Plan – 2001 is now being published as a statutory document. The passing of the National Capital Region Planning Board Act, 1985, leading to the setting up of the Board in March, 1985, fulfilled the greatly felt need of a statutory organization to plan and promote a balanced and harmonious development of the National Capital Region. The passing of the Act itself has been preceded by a series of efforts made at various levels for setting up a planning organization for the National Capital Region. The acute need for this was being felt right from 1962 when the first Master Plan for Delhi realized that the solution of the impending problems of the National Capital could only be found in a regional context and recommended the setting up of an organization with those objectives. I am extremely grateful to the Chief Ministers of the participating States of Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, the Lt. Governor and the Chief Executive Councillor of Delhi, the Urban Development Ministers of the participating States and other State officials who took keen interest in the deliberations leading to the preparation of the Plan. My colleagues in the Central Ministries of Power, Railways, Surface Transport, Telecommunications and their officers have also been generous in extending their assistance. I am grateful to all of them.
In finalizing the Regional Plan, the Planning Committee of the Board, deliberated the plan proposals and policies at length in a number of meetings. The sector-wise programmes and policies have been examined and recommended by a number of expert study groups on demography, settlement system, transport and communications, water supply and sanitation, power, social infrastructure, environment and industries. In-depth studies, on behalf of the Board have been undertaken through professional consultants and institutions in regard to migration, informal sector activities, fiscal policy, urban development scenarios, land use analysis based on landsat imageries and aerial photography, traffic and transportation surveys, settlement system and counter magnet areas.
The two important goals to be achieved by the Regional Plan are a balanced and harmoniously developed region, leading to dispersal of economic activities and in migrants to Delhi, thereby leading to a manageable Delhi. This is to be achieved by the progressive de-concentration of population and economic activities in the Region and their judicial dispersal to various priority towns as identified in the Plan. The Plan, is a framework of policies relating to population distribution, settlement system, transport and communications, physical and social infrastructure, regional landuse, environment and eco-development, management structure for Plan implementation and counter magnet areas for development. The focus of the Plan is Delhi whose extra-ordinary growth has put great pressure on its essential services and civic facilities. It is expected that a vigorous implementation of the policies contained in the Plan would help maintain the quality of life of our National Capital.
Sd/-
Smt. Mohsina Kidwai
Chairperson,
NCR Planning Board &
Minister of Urban Development
Government of India
New Delhi
CONTENTS
Foreword Scenario
1. National Capital Region
2. Policy Zones
3. Demographic Profile
4. Settlement System 1981-2001
5. Rural Development
6. Economic Profile
7. Transport
8. Telecommunications
9. Power Development
10. Water Supply, Sewerage and Solid-waste Disposal
11. Education and Health
12. Shelter
13. Regional Landuse
14. Environment and Eco-development
15. Management Structure for Plan Implementation
16. Counter-magnet Areas
17. Strategies and Priority Areas for Development
Tables
Keys to abbreviations
NCR National Capital Region
NCRPB National Capital Region Planning Board
DUT Delhi Union Territory
DUA Delhi Urban Area
DMA Delhi Metropolitan Area
UP Uttar Pradesh
CCA City Compensatory Allowance
HRA House Rent Allowance
UD Urban Development
NH National Highways
GAL Goods Avoiding Line
DAL Delhi Avoiding Line
MRTS Mass Rapid Transit System
NOIDA New OKhla Industrial Development Area
MW Mega Watts
MU Millions Units
DESU Delhi Electricity Supply Undertaking
HSEB Haryana State Electricity Board
NTPC National Thermal Power Corporation
I.P. Station Indra Prastha (Power) Station
BBMB Bhakra Beas Management Board
Lpcd litres per capita a day
Mgd million gallons a day
LIG Low Income Group
MIG Medium Income Group
HIG High Income Group
HUDCO Housing and Urban Development Corporation
HDFC Housing Development Finance Corporation
ESI Environmental Sensitivity Index
ESP Electro Static Precipitator
HUDA Haryana Urban Development Authority
LIV Life Insurance Corporation of India
BOD Bio-Chemical Oxygen Demand
EWS Economically Weaker Section
THE SCENARIO
Delhi, the National Capital has been facing unprecedented growth which has been a cause of serious concern to the Central Government. It has been recognized that the planned growth of Delhi is possible only in a regional context. In fact, the need for regional approach was felt as early as 1959 when the draft Master Plan for Delhi was prepared. Thereafter, the Master Plan of 1962 recommended that a statutory National Capital Region Planning Board should be set up for ensuring balanced and harmonized development of the Region. The setting up of the statutory Board in 1985 and coming into operation of the first statutory Regional Plan – 2001, would be important achievements in the balanced development of the National Capital Region.
2. Delhi is besieged by a host of serious problems today. The gap in availability of essential services like water supply, power, transport and management of solid waste is continuously increasing. The problem is being further aggravated due to increasing immigration. In our democratic system, migrants do not feel bound by physical boundaries of the States while our administrative, development planning and resource allocation systems operate within the limits of territorial boundaries. The operation of this system, therefore, on the one hand has manifested in increasing congestion in Delhi and, on the other, acted as an obstacle in the integrated and balanced development of the Region without any regard to the physical boundaries. The enactment of the National Capital Region Planning Board Act, 1985 with the consent of the participating States and the adoption of the Regional Plan by them is a realization of this reality. Consequently, the Plan has suggested policies and measures which would help in achieving the objective of the planned development of Delhi in its regional context.
3. The genesis of Delhi’s growth lies in its rapid urbanization and its ability to offer wide opportunities for large scale employment through specialization and increased productivity in manufacturing and supporting services. Till 1951, Delhi was essentially an administrative centre with a population of 14.5 lakhs but, the expansion of industry, trade and commerce providing opportunities for economic development, in turn, began to transform its character from an administrative city to a multifunctional city and, exhibited a significant functional shift to industrial character in 1981 when its population size became 57.3 lakhs, recording a growth of about 300% since 1951.
4. This phenomenal growth of population is due to increasing in migration with about 1.50 lakh migrants annually coming to Delhi in search of employment during 1971-81. Today, Delhi acts as a powerful job magnet at the national level. This has drawn job aspirants from far and wide but, more particularly from the neighbouring States. As Delhi grows, its problems of land, housing, transportation and management of essential infrastructure like water supply and sewerage become more acute. The city lacks reliable and adequate sources of water, and thus has to depend upon the adjoining States to meet its water supply requirements. Delhi is a Union Territory occupying barely 1483 sq.km of land. The physical expansion of Delhi, due to spread of urbanization in the last decade claimed about 40% of the total Territory area in 1981, compared to about 30% in 1971 and, it is growing at a rapid pace.
5. The Master Plan for Delhi and initially assigned urban Delhi’s population as 46 lakhs in 1981 against the trend based projections of 53 lakhs through a policy of diverting 7 lakhs to the ‘ring’ towns. Subsequently, this figure was revised to 53 lakhs. The 1981 Census, however, revealed a population of 57.3 lakhs. In other words, Delhi’s growth has taken place at a much faster rate than anticipated. Worse still, the population of ring towns grew by 567% during this period. In 1981, the city had 11.3 lakhs more population than what was envisaged at the start of the Plan and, 4.3 lakhs more than the revised capacity of 53 lakhs in 1976.
6. Whether economic and demographic concentration in Delhi has already reached a point at which the social cost of agglomeration exceeds the benefits, cannot be proved conclusively, but, it is clear that if this threshold has not yet been reached, it is likely to be reached in a relatively near future. It is also clear that alternatives to the further growth of Delhi should be identified on a basic which is consistent with the objectives of national economic growth and social development. The solution may lie in making investments in selected settlements outside the metropolis at appropriate distances and also, in impulse sectors to relieve the National Capital of its suffering from the pressures within a reasonable future. Inspite of the awareness of the pressures being exerted in the Capital, for over two decades, we have failed to remodel the pattern of development from a mono-nodal towards a poly-nodal pattern. Today, the Government has an obligation to create a pattern of development on as big a scale as possible and, as soon as possible. Policies must define dynamic action and, be dynamic in content. We need, therefore, development policies, programmes and plans aiming to:
Relieve the Capital city from additional pressures,
Avoid adding new pressures on to the Capital and
Remodel the pattern of settlements in the National Capital Region to enable them to play their assigned role.
The Regional Plan-2001 incorporates inter-related policy framework for the achievement of these objectives.
Provision of transport and communications infrastructure is crucial to increasing the growth potential of every part of the Region. By improving comparative advantages of the Sub-regions, direct spatial policies can contribute substantially to the process of re-direction of migrants-flow away from the Capital city. Great attention must, therefore, be paid to the development of priority towns located in the transport corridors, to channelize the growth in the National Capital Region.
7. The Regional Plan was prepared by the Draft Plan as provided in Section 10 of the NCR Planning Board Act, 1985. The Draft Regional Plan was prepared on the basis of expert studies and, with the help of extensive deliberations with the concerned Central agencies and the State Governments. It was approved by the Board in its meeting held on the 21st July,1987. As per the provisions of the NCR Planning Board Act, the Draft Regional Plan was then published for inviting objections and suggestions from the public, Central and State Governments, local bodies and individuals on the 14th August, 1987. In all, 37 objections and suggestions on various aspects of the Plan were received. After thorough scrutiny and consideration of the objections and suggestions, the Planning Committee, in two meetings on the 19th November, 1987 and the 16th December, 1987m, offered its comments and observations for the consideration of the Board. The Regional Plan 2001 has been approved by the Board on November 3, 1988 after consideration of these objections and suggestions received as a reaction to the Draft Plan.
8. The National Capital Region Planning Board Act envisages formulation of an hierarchy of Plans for the purpose of enforcement of the statutory regional plan for the NCR. These plans include functional plans to elaborate one or more elements by the Board and sub-regional plans for the respective sub-regions by the participating States within the framework of the Regional Plan. The Board would also cause preparation of project plans by the participating States, and also the Central Ministries within the framework of long term investment plan, broken up into five years, coinciding with the national Five Year Plan periods and annual investment plans. The projects would include comprehensive programmes aimed at induced growth, provision of infrastructure, both social and physical, employment generating activities etc. in the development of priority areas. The functional plans, sub-regional plans and project plans together shall culminate into a set of precise and time bound programmes to ensure a balanced and harmonious development of the National Capital Region.
9. The financing of the NCR Development Plan has attracted considerable attention in the Parliament, press and several non-official forums. Serious concern has been expressed at the availability of meager resources during the 7th Plan. The concern gets aggravated due to the fact that time shall be of great essence if any dent has to be made in the problems being created in Delhi and, investments made now may start yielding results only after a few years. At the same time, allocation of major chunk of resources during the currency of a plan, particularly in a situation of alround shortage of resources, was a very difficult proposition. It is, however, quite clear that unless the Central Government takes the lead in the provision of finances, as it has done in the setting up of the Board and making it functional, there is little hope for the implementation of the Plan. The Central Government also should assume responsibility of providing adequate power to the priority towns of the NCR, as in the case of Delhi, so that they could become alternative sources of substantial employment generating activities.