New Delhi: No new offices of Central or city government should be allowed to come up in Delhi and efforts must be initiated to shift some of the existing ones to
neighbouring cities to ease pressure on infrastructure here, a
Parliamentary panel has said.
Holding that there is a dire need for a plan to decongest
the city, the Standing Committee on Urban Development also
asked the Centre to take urgent steps to develop the National
Capital Region, comprising neighbouring cities and towns.
The Committee, headed by JD(U) MP Sharad Yadav, said any
ministries, government departments and PSUs requiring
additional office space should not be given permission to open
new offices. It said Central government offices, which do not
perform any ministerial or protocol function, should be
shifted out of the city in a time-bound manner.
Observing that Delhi has been facing a lot of pressure
due to concentration of trade, services and industries, the
committee also pulled up the Urban Development Ministry for
failing to implement any provision of the Regional Plan 2021
prepared by National Capital Region Planning Board.
The NCRPB, which functions under the Ministry, was
constituted in 1985 by an Act of Parliament for preparation of
development plans for the entire NCR region to disperse
economic activities to the cities of the neighbouring states.
Besides Delhi, the NCR comprises specified districts of
Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. After preparing the
Regional Plan 2021, the NCRPB had asked constituent states to
prepare sub-regional plans in conformity with the main
regional plan.
However, many states are yet to complete their
sub-regional plans.
The committee said NCPRB has sufficient powers to impress
upon the constituent states to prepare their sub-regional
plans in conformity with the Regional Plan 2021 at the
earliest so as to avoid "lopsided and haphazard growth" of
Delhi.
The committee, in its report, said NCRPB needs to
substantially scale up its operations and asked the agency to
fund large infrastructure projects in the region. It also
asked the Urban Development Ministry to allocate sufficient
funds to the agency.
The projects identified by NCRPB for being financed
during the Eleventh Five Year Plan involve a total investment
outlay of Rs 15,000 crore. The board has has proposed to raise
funds amounting to Rs 8,000 crore each as loan from the World
Bank and the ADB.
PTI
