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Delhi Master Plan / Revision

by Gita Dewan Verma — last modified 2007-03-02 02:05

Beginning with the end of 2002, Assembly election-year and Master Plan revision end-game have converged in Delhi. This will affect the revised Plan, the statutory framework for Delhi's development up to 2021. Delhi's future could do with some minding in 2003.

Delhi Master Plan Revision Monitor

Delhi's Master Plan came into force in 1962 for a perspective up to 1981, was then revised for a perspective up to 2001 and is currently being revised for 2021. A description of the 1962 Plan and Plan 2001 and the vision guiding the revision can be seen on Delhi Development Authority's website. As a document of citizens' entitlements in benefits of planned development Delhi's Master Plan is arguably adequate, but its implementation has not been so. Accountability on implementation, however, features nowhere in the Plan revision discourse, leaving citizens no choice but to mind their entitlements themselves. The draft Plan for 2021 is likely to be notified this year for public objections and suggestions for the mandatory 90-day period. The purpose of this Monitor is to track the Plan revision end-game and place it in an entitlements' perspective to facilitate informed public participation in those 90 days to, in turn, secure Plan ownership for the next two decades. The entitlements' perspective of planned development might also be of interest elsewhere as Master Plans are currently being revised in several cities.

 
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RECENT: | 2003.02.28: DDA HIG Housing scam / Content Monitor - Housing | 2003.02.24: Metro Police station inaugurated in contempt of Public Notice process / Process Monitor | 2003.02.09: Draft Plan to be made public in March / Status Monitor |
 

Status Monitor

Announcements/statements about progress/status of Delhi Master Plan revision from media reports and other sources.
  • 2003.02.09: Draft Master Plan 2021 to be made public by March (DDA Planning chief)
     
    "The city must expand vertically. Parts of the old walled city, and DDA MIG and LIG flats built 30-40 years ago need to be demolished to give way for higher buildings," says DDA Commissioner Vijay Rizbud.
    The way out of this urban nightmare: expansion and more expansion. Put together by DDA's Planning and Architecture Department comprising over 100 professionals, the Master Plan highlights the need for a 'New New Delhi' in the National Capital Region.
    Such an expansion is a "recipe for disaster", warn planners, but Rizbud claims confidently: "Delhi is on the way to becoming another Tokyo or Singapore". "Cities cannot be stopped from growing," agrees road expert Prof Dinesh Mohan.
    The Plan is to be placed before Union urban minister Ananth Kumar next week and made public by March."
    'Delhi heading for planned disaster', Rashme Sehgal, Times of India
     
  • 2003.02.03: Certain chapters of Master Plan 2021 to be approved by June (Delhi BJP)
  • 2003.01.27: Draft of Master Plan 2021 in final stages (DDA Chairman / Lieutenant Governor)
  • 2003.01.16: Draft of Regional Plan, into which Master Plan 2021 is to be dovetailed, submitted to Ministry
 
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Process Monitor

Due process of law for Delhi Master Plan revision requires basis in planning data, consideration by experts, consultation with authorities and public scrutiny and comment, but the on-going revision seems guided by some 'visions'.
 
Departures from dues process
  • 2003-02-24: Metro Police Station inaugurated by DDA Chairman in building on river-bed/green while Public Notice process for land use change is underway
Visions guidieng the revision
  • 2003.02.21: Former urban development minister Jagmohan's personal blueprint for Delhi
  • 2003.02.09: DDA Planners' vision of Delhi becoming 'another Tokyo or Singapore'
  • 2003.02.03: Delhi BJP's idea on chapter-wise revision for its Vision-2003 for Delhi assembly elections
  • 2003.01.20: DDA Planners' vision of Delhi becoming 'like Kuala Lumpur'
  • 2003.01.09: DDA Chairman's vision of Delhi shaped by metro and real estate
 
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Content Monitor

Policies and projects being announced are likely to shape the revised Plan. These are of four synergistic types: condoning Plan violations of 'greed' by regularising up-market misuse (RUM); condoning Plan implementation failures by regularising inadequate 'people-initiatives' (RIP); downsizing Plan entitlements with sub-standard options for people (SOP); and facilitating urban-space commodification (FUC). For instance:
  • Housing. The Plan adequately provides for housing for all, but low-income housing provisions have not been implemented, resulting in slums. Now upper income homes are being permitted expansion (RUM) and the poor are being offered uprading (RIP) or sub-standard resettlement or night shelters (SOP), options that cannot solve the slum problem but spare over 2000 hectares meant for low-income housing for excessive and unsustainable up-market housing (FUC).
  • Industry. The Plan has adequate provisions for industrial space that have largely not been implemented. Industrial units, naturally in places not meant for them, are now being offered either regularisation (RIP) or sub-standard resettlement in the outskirts (SOP), while misuse of developed industrial space within the city is being permitted (RUM) and proposals skirting accountability about over 2000 hectares of industrial space are being mooted for future industrial development (FUC).
  • Commerce. The Plan adequately provides for commercial use. Provisions for informal and small trade have not been implemented. Commercial use of homes (RUM) and up-market use of planned commercial space (FUC) is being promoted, leaving small trade on roadsides with promise of licenses (RIP) or occasional minimalist projects (SOP). Extortion and profiteering 'gains' from non-implementation of Plan provisions for small trade may well be Rs.10,000 crores.
 
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Position Papers

Position papers and statements by those engaging on Delhi Master Plan revision in any capacity, stating and explaining perceptions of priorities/imperatives and outlining the authors' engagement.
  • Planned development is not about endless Plan-making but about development according to Plan. Delhi's Master Plan is not a plannerly artifact, but a document of citizens' entitlements. Plan revision amounts to modification of entitlements and must follow due process of law, provide accountability on implementation of entitlements and plausible assurance that the revision will make things better for all. Gita Dewan Verma / Planner
 
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Status Monitor

2003.02.09: 'Delhi heading for planned disaster', Rashme Sehgal, Times of India
"[DDA Commissioner Planning] Rizbud claims confidently: "Delhi is on the way to becoming another Tokyo or Singapore". ...The Plan is to be placed before Union urban minister Ananth Kumar next week and made public by March."
 
2003.02.03: 'BJP will get plan cleared by May, says Khurana', Nidhi Sharma, Asian Age
"[BJP] will get specific chapters pertaining to industries, unauthorised colonies, commercial activity in residential areas and housing for industrial workers in Master Plan for Delhi 2021 passed by the month of May."
 
2003.01.27: 'Metro remarkable event of past year', HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
[ex-officio DDA Chairman] "Lieutenant-Governor Vijai Kapoor said in his Republic Day address on Sunday that the draft of the new Master Plan 2021 was in its final stages."
 
2003.01.20: 'New master plan tries to make city slum-free', Nidhi Sharma, Asian Age
"In a presentation given to the Union urban development ministry, the Delhi Development Authority said the removal of slums and prevention of their mushrooming again will be one of the key concerns of the new master plan...".
 
2003.01.16: 'NCR planning body submits draft plan', Aruna P. Sharma, Hindustan Times
"National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) ...draft plan has been submitted to the Urban Development Ministry for scrutiny and approval. The Master Plan 2021 being prepared for Delhi by the DDA is to be dovetailed with this plan."
 
2003 January: Draft / Concept submitted to Parliamentary Standing Committee
DETAILS NOT AVAILABLE
 

Process Monitor

Due process for Master Plan revision, as laid down in Delhi Development Act and the Master Plan itself, requires
  • Basis in planning data: Delhi Development Act requiring civic survey (s.7), the Plan requires monitoring data (p.92). The on-going revision seems to be progressing without planning data as the mandatory civic survey appears not to have been conducted and mandatory monitoring data also appears not to have been collected over the years.
    • 2003.02.05: Letter from DDA Monitoring Wing suggesting absence of monitoring data

  • Consideration by experts: 17 expert group have been set (under s.5 of the Act) for various aspects. Normally they would analyse data, develop alternative scenarios and seek wider comment for refinement and synthesis into the overall Plan. Expert groups have maintained an inexplicable silence amidst controversial Plan modifications.
    • 2003-02-14: Letter to MoUD asking about expert groups' proposals in the context of announcements for hawkers, slums, industries

  • Consultation with authorities: Central, state and local governments are represented in DDA under the Act (s.3, s.5) and public authorities can express views on modifications (s.10). The Plan (DC Clause-3(7)) also requires their involvement. In at least one matter DDA has said to the court it is not obliged to consult others, nor have others responded to requests to use these powers.
    • 2002-09-22: Letters requesting various authorities to use their powers to intervene in view of Public Notice for land use change of green belt for HIG housing in excess of norms
    • 2002-09-09: DDA counter-affidavit in Delhi High Court claims it is not obliged to consult Central Ground Water Authority before starting unplanned construction in notified area

  • Public scrutiny and comment: Public Notice inviting objections/suggestions is mandatory (s.10, s.11). Studies required by monitoring provisions allow continuing civil society participation. Seminar-style participation by select non-expert secondary stakeholders is not contemplated, but is on-going, while recent Public Notices reflect indifference to democratic participation.
    • 2003-02-24: Metro Police Station inaugurated by DDA Chairman in building on river-bed/green while Public Notice process for land use change is underway
    • 2002-01-27: 'Public Hearing' of over 1700 objections in response to Public Notice for landuse change of green belt held through a dozen interviews: Report

'Visions' substituting due process of Plan revision (see also Delhi Master Plan / Politics of Planning)
  • 2003.02.21: Former urban development minister Jagmohan's personal blueprint for Delhi
    On 03.02.03, Jagmohan reacted in a public lecture to his successor's regularisation announcements by saying 'his' blueprint for Delhi had been killed, a position reiterated in his public statements and addresses on 15.02.03, 16.02.03 and 20.02.03. Jagmohan's views on planned development may appear different, but are not so because planned development is not a phrase open to interpretation, but legally defined as development according to the Master Plan, with which Jagmohan's 'blueprint' has nothing to do. Those opposed to regularisation may find his remarks useful, but they divert attention from the Master Plan and the key issue of accountability about its implementation.
     
  • 2003.02.09: DDA Planners' vision of Delhi becoming 'another Tokyo or Singapore'
    "Circa 2021. 23 million Delhites will live cheek-by-jowl as compared to the current 14 million. 4.5 million vehicles will fight for road space from the present 2.2 million. Water requirements will jump to 8,349 million litres per day from 3,735 million litres. Urban land area will swell from 60,000 hectares to 110,000... "The city must expand vertically. Parts of the old walled city, and DDA MIG and LIG flats built 30-40 years ago need to be demolished to give way for higher buildings," says DDA Commissioner Vijay Rizbud. ...Put together by DDA's Planning and Architecture Department comprising over 100 professionals, the Master Plan highlights the need for a 'New New Delhi' in the National Capital Region. Such an expansion is a "recipe for disaster", warn planners, but Rizbud claims confidently: "Delhi is on the way to becoming another Tokyo or Singapore". 'Delhi heading for planned disaster', Rashme Sehgal, Times of India
     
  • 2003.02.03: Delhi BJP's idea on chapter-wise revision for its Vision-2003 for Delhi assembly elections
    "The Bharatiya Janata Party is trying a different game plan altogether. With an eye on Assembly elections, the party will get specific chapters pertaining to industries, unauthorised colonies, commercial activity in residential areas and housing for industrial workers in Master Plan for Delhi 2021 passed by the month of May. BJP is now trying to use the Master Plan for Delhi 2021 proposal as a pawn in the Assembly elections. ... the Delhi BJP state unit president, Mr Madan Lal Khurana said, "We are trying to get a few chapters of the Master Plan passed by May or maximum by June. The Master Plan will take a long time to be prepared and the entire document will be ready only by next year. We will get some parts approved before the elections. We want to tell the people that BJP is the only party which thinks for their welfare"." 'BJP will get plan cleared by May, says Khurana', Nidhi Sharma, Asian Age
     
  • 2003.01.20: DDA Planners' vision of Delhi becoming 'like Kuala Lumpur'
    "The proposed "Master Plan for Delhi 2021" envisages a clean metropolitan look for the city. In a presentation given to the Union urban development ministry, the Delhi Development Authority said the removal of slums and prevention of their mushrooming again will be one of the key concerns of the new master plan. The development and future growth of the capital city has been planned on the lines of Kuala Lumpur with multi-storeyed buildings and a unified metro-centric public transport system. A senior official said, "It is necessary to take care of slums if we want to implement the proposed Kuala Lumpur model...". As per the suggestions of lieutenant-governor Vijai Kapoor, the DDA has included in the proposal that the resettlement will be done near industrial areas... The official said, "Kuala Lumpur has also given small flats to the squatter population near their place of work and has made stringent laws to prevent new slums from coming up." 'New master plan tries to make city slum-free', Nidhi Sharma, Asian Age
     
  • 2003.01.09: DDA Chairman's vision of Delhi shaped by metro and real estate
    "The Delhi Development Authority's (DDA's) new master plan for the Capital proposes major changes in the city. A key proposal in the plan is that the metro be made the city's primary transport system and other public transport systems also be metro-centric. ..."The master plan says the city transport system would be efficient only if it hovers around a metro station," an official said. The buses will connect colonies and offices to the stations. The master plan takes into consideration that by 2020 the metro project would be completed and proposals would be implemented by 2021. "If the master plan proposal is implemented, major Delhi roads like the ring roads will be open for private vehicles as very few public transport vehicles will run," an official said. ...On L-G Vijai Kapoor's suggestion that the floor area ratio in half-a-kilometre area on both sides of metro line should be increased, the new master plan has suggested that 10-storey buildings should be allowed. But it has added a rider. Multi-storey buildings should be allowed only on plots of 2,000 sq yard." 'New master plan focuses on Metro and construction', Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times
     

Content Monitor

| housing | industry | commerce | institutions and facilities | Infrastructure | villages and heritage | form and image |
 
Housing
 
Delhi's Master Plan stipulates, besides standards for dwelling sizes, densities, etc, integrated housing requiring residential development for 100,000 population to have 25% cheap plots and 20% small dwellings as well. The Plan estimated that during 1981-2001 about 1,300,000 families would be added to the city, including 325,000 - ie, 25% - poor families, and 100,000 existing squatter houses would need replacement. Accordingly, it provided for 425,000 cheap plots (in about 2000 hectares spread all over the city), which have not been developed according to Plan. The census of 2001 counted about 400,000 families in slums in Delhi. Contrary to the popular perception that slums are the result of unanticipated migration, they are the result only of failure to implement mandatory low-income housing provisions. It appears that excess of population over Plan estimates is not in slums and poses competing claims for up-market housing on residential space, which recent initiatives are tending to pander to at the cost of Plan entitlements of the poor in the city's land. The poor in Delhi are not housed according to Plan, only re-housed from slums according to slum policy - in ways sub-standard in terms of dwelling sizes, density, location, etc. In November 2002 the court quashed the slum policy for having no basis in law and serving no purpose. In December 2002 there was consensus against the court order, but none of the respondents have filed a review petition or appeal. The discourse is drifting to other illegal and inadequate alternatives, notably the Mumbai Model for free flats through builders in lieu of commercial exploitation of part-site and NGO-managed night shelters for the homeless. Meanwhile, since mid-2002 DDA has made it clear that it is inclined to focus on high-income group (HIG) flats by builders of repute, even if they are illegal, scam-ridden and unsustainable. And, amidst mid-winter slum evictions, housing decisions for others' benefit were announced. Parliament standing committee for urban development suggested measures to facilitate transfer of flats and MoUD announced regularising of illegal additions in flats. And the Plan revision reportedly is considering making housing private business.
  • 2003.02.28: DDA website announces scheme to sell LIG/MIG flats to HIG
  • 2003.02.26: DDA scheme for allotting to government officers HIG flats it can't sell to general public
  • 2003.02.25: DDA asks 5 corrupt officers to retire following vigilance enquiry in its HIG mega-housing projects
  • 2003.02.25: VP Singh demands national slum policy
  • 2003.02.24: Mahapanchayat of 600 homeless arranged by NGOs demands 100 night shelters, ration cards, bank accounts for homeless: Comment
  • 2003.02.19: CM lays foundation stone for industrial workers' housing: Narela - Betrayed by All
  • 2003.02.18: Redesigned auction notice for plots posted on DDA website
  • 2003.02.17: DDA auction notice for plots posted on DDA website
  • 2003.02.05: 2.5 crores for Night Shelters in MCD budget: News report
  • 2003.02.02: DDA auction notice for plots suggests speculative buying, second homes for NRIs: Notice
  • 2003.01.28: DDA won't build, housing will be private business: News report
  • 2003.01.27: Hearing of objections to HIG scheme in green belt/VasantKunj: Report
  • 2003.01.26: Arjun Camp petitioners request DDA to file reply: see Chronicle
  • 2003.01.25: VP Singh exhorts people to undo November court order: Comment
  • 2003.01.25: Edit page article celebrating night shelters: Comment
  • 2003.01.25: DDA asks flat residents' ideas for site cleared mid-winter: Comment
  • 2003.01.22: Minister says planners didn't think of poor: Letter to Minister
  • 2003.01.22: MoUD decides 15% housing for poor by flat owners, not state: Comment
  • 2003.01.21: Regularisation of illegal additions in flats announced: Comment
  • 2003.01.20: DDA plans to limit housing for poor to industrial areas: News report
  • 2003.01.17: MCD announces wooden sleepers in night shelters, shelters for women
  • 2003.01.16: MCD announces fee waiver in night shelters, more night shelters
  • 2003.01.13: Arjun Camp demolition averted: see Chronicle
  • 2003.01.09: LG says HIG scheme stopped by court can't stop: Letter to DDA/MoUD
  • 2003.01.08: MCD announces night shelters to remain open round-the-clock
  • 2002.12.28: MCD hands over 5 community centres to NGOs for night shelters
  • 2002.12.23: Labour Minister's welfare scheme using rejected flats: Comment
  • 2002.12.20: Parliament Committee proposes easing flat transfers: Comment
  • 2002.12.19: Consensus against court order on slum policy: see Slumming Delhi
  • 2002.12.14: Mid-winter evictions following quashing of slum policy
  • 2002.12.11: Illegal experiments with partners of repute: Letter to MoUD/DDA
  • 2002.12.11: Higher costs alleged in HIG schemes with builders of repute
  • 2002.12.10: Contracting scam alleged in HIG schemes with firms of repute
  • 2002.12.10: Press Notice for offers from NGO-builders of repute for Mumbai Model
  • 2002.12.10: DDA given two weeks to reply in Arjun Camp case: see Chronicle
  • 2002.12.04: Panel to study DDA flat alterations set up
  • 2002.12.04: CM says Mumbai Model was her idea, DDA like a builder: Letter to CM
  • 2002.11.29: Court quashes Delhi's Slum Policy: see Slumming Delhi
  • 2002.11.22: DDA announces HIG schemes, says no more EWS: Letter to DDA/MoUD
  • 2002.11.16: TV report on failure of Mumbai Model in Mumbai: Letter to MoUD/DDA
  • 2002.11.15: MCD hands over 3 Night Shelters to NGOs
  • 2002.11.10: Minister announces Mumbai Model for Delhi slums
 
Industry
 
Delhi's revised Master Plan approved in 1990 anticipated about 100,000 industrial units by 2001. Accordingly, it provided for well over 2000 hectares of planned industrial space spread all over, in new industrial as well as commercial development and also through redevelopment/regularisation and by shifting non-permissible units. Practically none of this planned industrial space has been developed. As a consequence, industrial activity, although its scale is consistent with what was anticipated in the Plan, is mostly in places not meant for industries, in ways very problematic for themselves and for the city. Now, instead of Plan implementation on priority, 'solutions' are being sought and offered through sub-standard relocation or Plan modifications for regularisation. This is even as there is obviously no way in which the 'problem' of 100,000 industrial units can be solved through a 'land-less solution'. In 2001, when the Supreme Court extended the relocation deadline to 31 December 2002, the Master Plan revision had stared, requiring by law data on status of planned industrial space and so providing an opportunity to approach the problem holistically and sensibly. Unfortunately, recent announcements suggest that the on going Plan revision is unlikely to restore planned industrial space to units as government seems more inclined to legitimise its misuse. In May 2002, DDA came out with a scheme for regularising commercial use of industrial plots. In February 2003 MoUD announced a Plan modification permitting in five special industrial areas all types of industries. The draft Plan for the National Capital Region, submitted in January 2003 to MoUD, also speaks of shifting all but hi-tech industries out of Delhi, despite total implementation failure on regional dispersal in the NCR in all these years.
  • 2003.02.19: CM lays foundation stone for industrial workers' housing: Narela - Betrayed by All
  • 2003.02.08: Questions about Committee, contempt of court: Letter to MoUD/DDA
  • 2003.02.06: Delhi BJP Chief says Committee will revise affidavit
  • 2003.02.04: Jagmohan says the move is killing 'his' blueprint for Delhi
  • 2003.02.04: Minister announces Committee to study regularisation
  • 2003.02.04: Objection raising 12 questions: Letter to MoUD/DDA
  • 2003.02.04: Minister announces allowing all industries in special industry areas
  • 2003.01.29: Objection presuming Public Notice: Letter to MoUD/DDA
  • 2003.01.29: BJP Delhi chief says regularisation notification next week
  • 2003.01.25: Two surveys, no inference
  • 2003.01.24: Survey ordered after Samaipur Badli finds 65 unlicensed units in NW
  • 2003.01.24: DDA finds about 400 cases of commercial use of industrial plots
  • 2003.01.17: Newspaper article by MD, DSIDC: Comment
  • 2003.01.16: NCR Planning Board draft plan proposes only hi-tech units in Delhi
  • 2003.01.04: Delhi government says no relocation till court hearing
  • 2003.01.03: Delhi government plans regularisation in villages, starts survey
  • 2002.12.29: And how many deaths will it take to be known...?
  • 2002.12.29: Factory blast in Samaipur Badli kills 9, injures 13
  • 2003.12.21: Illegality of the move: Letter to MoUD/DDA
  • 2002.12.21: DDA approves regularisation of units in residential areas
  • 2002.12.19: Delhi BJP threatens agitation against closure of units
  • 2002.12.12: Delhi government okays loans, says it is up to units now
  • 2002.12.05: Impending industrial unrest?
  • 2002.12.05: News reports about court deadline for relocation
  • 2002.11.01: View misuse w.r.t Plan provisions for +2000 Ha: Letter to MoUD/DDA
  • 2002.10.31: Court quashes scheme to regularise misuse of industrial plots
 
Commerce
 
In general Delhi's Master Plan envisages facilities for different scales of population - daily need shops in convenient shopping centres catering to residential population of about 5000, somewhat larger scale/range of shops/offices in local shopping centres catering to 15000 and so on. This is to protect residential amenity by keeping non-local traffic-attracting and infrastructure-stressing uses to a minimum, while ensuring optimal access to facilites and workplaces. Since 1990 the Plan also has mixed land use regulations permitting shops and offices in homes, subject to restrictions to ensure there is no nuisance to the area. Of special note are the Plan's unique provisions for informal and low turnover shops. Besides from an equity perspective, these are significant for addressing the performance-nuisance conflict inherent to small trade, which provides livelihood opportunities to entrepreneurs and affordable and convenient access to goods and services to customers, but can also pose nuisance by way of visual squalor, traffic congestion, etc, if not planned for. The Plan provides for planned commercial space, in line with natural propensities, for 3 - 400,000 hawkers and a similar number of low-turnover shops. In fact, shopping norms were revised upwards in 1990 largely to account for this segment. But, despite pioneering statutory provisions for informal sector and regulated mixed landuse in Delhi, hawkers continue to hawk in problematic ways and small shops in homes continue to turn roads into congested bazaars. Current policy initiatives seek to regularise all this, sparing commercial space planned for them for more remunerative commercial use - neither necessary nor sustainable, but being promoted nevertheless through liberal disposal policies.
  • 2003.02.27: DDA’s Auction Reminder to invest today in tomorrow’s prime properties
  • 2003.02.24: Vasant Kunj hawkers threatened with removal by MCD / DDA staff, one instance of violent attack as well
  • 2003.02.21: Vasant Kunj MCD Councilor demands hawking licenses for weekly hawking (already issued)
  • 2003.02.10: Hawking licenses issued for weekly hawking in Vasant Kunj, allegedly in anticipation of pilot project
  • 2003.01.27: Mafia buy shops for a song with prior information of regularisation: News report
  • 2003.01.20: Another Tender Notice offering DDA shops for unrestricted use, posted on DDA website a month later
  • 2003.01.16: DDA promises pilot-project for Vasant Kunj hawkers on affidavit
  • 2003.01.09: DDA Chairman suggests Master Plan focus on metro-centred property development: News report
  • 2002.12.16: Move to facilitate commercial development all along Metro corridor: Public Notice
  • 2002.12.15: Move to liberalise commercial use of residential premises: Public Notice
  • 2002.12.01: Increase in property values following announcements of regularising shops in homes: News report
  • 2002.10.30: Vasant Kunj village, flat, basti residents and hawkers jointly move court against DDA Tender Notice offering shops for unrestricted use
  • 2002.10.24: DDA promises 'pilot project' in response to Vasant Kunj hawkers' comprehensive proposal of May 2001 for implementing Plan provisions
  • 2002.10.02: MCD announces 'policy' to make NGO-initiative inclusive of illegal 'architectural plans' model hawker market
 
Institutions and facilities
 
The Plan sets aside land for institutions and facilities only to 'service' city population equitably for local needs. However, up-market facilities are favoured in land allotments (FUC) and not bothered with lease conditions meant to ensure local benefit and access to the poor (RUM). For the rest, there are policy innovations like porta-cabins in place of tinsheds in schools (RIP) or project ideas like charity partnerships with schools or hospitals (SOP).
 
Infrastructure
 
The Plan envisages carrying-capacity-based development through, besides supply augmentation, demand limitation through norms for various land uses. Provisions for integrated communities allow cross-subsidy benefits and, hence, equity. Despite limits to augmentation through rooftop rainwater harvesting or cluster level composting, these are being projected as solutions while demand is allowed to grow beyond capacity through Plan violations. And failure to implement provisions for integration has led to separate infrastructure for the poor.
 
Heritage and villages, form and image
 
The discourse continues to be stuck on what should be, even as little seems to have been done by way of experimenting and innovating to use opportunities already available in the statutory framework of the Plan. Disregard and denial of Plan entitlements of traditional communities in development in and around villages, whose lands were acquired only for development according to Plan, especially, has made for several problems.
 

Position Papers

 
Posted by Gita Dewan Verma: 2003-02-10, last modified July 10, 2006