What the master plan 2021 must address

Former Delhi chief secretary Omesh Saigal takes a critical look at the Delhi Master Plan 2021 and what it lacks

Delhi’s Master Plan have a notorious habit of being late: the plan due in 1981 was ten years late and the present one, due in 2001, has yet to see the light of day. It would have been not too bad if that is all the ills with which it suffered; the fact is that all the earlier plans have been designed for everything but the good of the city in mind. One does hope that the latest plan, MPD 2021 fares better on the second of these counts even though it may have been delayed so much. But, unfortunately, whatever little one has seen of the draft so far, this does not seem to be the case.

The fulcrum around which the proposal revolves is the plan to include the entire state of Delhi within its fold. Which is to say that the entire state is to be planned as a city, by saying goodbye to the green belt, which comprises of the rural areas of Delhi, now covering more than 75% of the state. The logic given is that since in any case urbanisation is proliferating in the rural areas in the shape of illegal colonies and large farmhouses why not recognise the fact and include them in the urbanisation process.

This seems to be the same as saying that since large number of thefts are taking place anyway why not delete Sec 379 from the Indian Penal Code and make theft legal. Or like saying that we will delete Sec 302 from the Penal code in areas like Bihar where large number of murders are taking place anyway with the police being unable to control them or bring the murderers to book. No, the cover is so facetious and thin that it is almost like the emperor’s clothes: as the boy said, the emperor has nothing on! And this is true of this plea as well. I went deeper into the subtext of this policy and detected a clear smell of departmental ‘empire building’, in this case on the part of the Delhi Development Authority. If the proposal goes through the DDA’s empire will multiply manifold; instead of just controlling a mere 600 sq kms of area, it control will now extend to over 1400 sq kms!

All this would be fine if the DDA’s track record were any better than it is. See any area of Delhi which is now included in the DDA’s so called Development Area, whether in the east or in the West or even in South Delhi in colonies like South Extension and Lajpat Nagar and you will soon see how the Master Plan is merely confined to DDA maps and files: on the ground people can do exactly what they want to. Residential areas have become commercialised and public parks have turned to vast uninhabitable slums. While DDA commercial complexes lie in shambles, next door in the homes huge commercial complexes have sprouted. There is hardly a road that has not been encroached upon and there is hardly an area that can boast of civic facilities that can match even cities like Hyderabad or Ahmedabad, leave alone the large metropolis of the world.

The only thing that the planning process in Delhi has achieved is the huge rush of immigrants that continues unabated. The huge growth rate of 5% per annum means that the population should double every 12-14 years. At this rate the population should reach the level of 3-4 crores by 2021 if not by 2015.

Do you know what it needs to sustain a population ofthis size? Not just more land, which the Master Plan proposes to do by including the rural areas of Delhi in the urbanisation process, but more water, power, roads and other infrastructure. Delhi is already short on all these counts: 50% on water, 30% on power, and 60% on roads. The only item that is not in short supply is pollution, noisy industrial units, and congestion on almost every road. Already Delhi is short on idle parking; the shortage will multiply manifold. Now there are 40 lac odd vehicles causing traffic jams; if the population increases as envisaged, the 1 crore or so vehicles will ensure that traffic will come to a standstill.

Master Plan 2001 is a shambles; let us try to now see that the plan for 2021 meets a better fate. It will not come from platitudes and good drafting and it will certainly not come from narrow-minded bureaucrats. It will need men of vision and men who really have the good of the capital in mind and are not merely for short-term cosmetic gains.

The one single issue that the new Master Plan should address should be the reversal of the trend of in migration. Not only should new immigrants not be allowed to come in, the ones who have come previously should be motivated/forced to go back. I know what the response of the gurus of the new plan will be: easier said than done. My answer is: it’s not as difficult as it sounds. And its not just development of the NCR that will check the in migration.

For one, let us first why the migration takes place in the first place. Many studies have been done and all point out on reason: better employment facilities in the capital. We have to control this to control the in migration. At a first and superficial look this seems like cutting off your head to get rid of your headache but this is not really so. Cutting employment in the capital does not mean that new employment does not come up at all; all it means is that it comes in the right places. In Gurgaon, for instance. Or in Manesar.

Or even further off in Daruhera, Alwar if not Sonepat and Panipat and Meerut and Bulandshahar. How does one ensure this? The DDA has decided long back, at the instance of the Delhi State government, that no more industrial estates would come up in Delhi. One crisis and a very sound decision was reversed and the Bawana industrial estate was allowed to come up. Whatever the justification, setting up this estate will prove a very costly mistake from the point of the quality of life in the capital.

The MPD 2021 must not just not repeat these mistakes but must start reversing them. For one, it should encourage conversion of industrial areas into commercial ones. This trend, it may be said, has already started in areas like Okhla Industrial Estate Ph 3 with a number of plots being converted to offices but this is not the sort of change we are looking for. What we want is more shops and entertainment spots, which cater to the needs of the existing population rather than more offices which will create more employment opportunities. If necessary let MPD change the definition of commercial to exclude offices and only include shops, restaurants and the like. Of course, while changing land use in the existing industrial estates we must provide for the additional infrastructure that it will entail.

There is another aspect that the MPD 2021 cannot be blind to. Delhi as the national capital is not and cannot be made an island; let us link it economically with the areas around it. Let us make the whole of the NCR as a single economic zone, with an integrated rail and road transport, with single rates of taxes and levies, commercial rates of services like power, water, scavengency and other services in Delhi, a single development and transport authority, and, most importantly, a single high powered political authority on the lines of the European Union. Whatever else the plan does or not, it must act as a facilitator for this to happen.

There are umpteen ground realities that the new plan cannot ignore, be it shops and offices in residential areas, the so called unauthorized colonies and constructions, the Sainik Farms and the palatial farms houses that now dot the rural scene. Even if these huge problems require a political will for their solutions, a will that has been lacking so far, it has to be factored into the new plan. And so have the September 7 and 16 notifications that were issued hastily as a panic reaction to the court decreed sealing drive.

The notification of September 7 can be faulted on three counts. First, can a plan that died in 2001 be amended five years later? Second, consultation with so-called RWAs (not defined under any provision of law) adds a hitherto unknown and arbitrary quantity to the equation and third, does the DDA realize that these amendments do not account for the NCR Regional Plan which has come into force only a few months back?

All these points are important but the fact that the NCR regional Plan has been totally ignored while bringing out these notifications is not just a defect that will make the courts come down with the heavy hand on the whole scheme but will also lead to unacceptable and unalterable changes in the city of Delhi. The changes being proposed will change both the density norm and also the land use pattern described in the Regional Plan 2021, on the law books for over a year now, making all the changes being proposed a nullity in the eyes of the law.

The Sept 7 notification and the Sept 15th one that followed not only recognize criminal acts but also allow others to do the same. If now 50-70% of certain streets have been commercialized, these notifications are an invitation to others also to do the same. While it may seem a fair step for the government to take, but has some tried to figure out what it means for the capital, especially to its population?

The decadal increase in population in the last two decades has been about 50%; it his trend continues, the population in 2021 will increase to over 3 crores. This is as opposed to the carrying capacity of the city, as worked out in the regional plan, of 2 crores and 30 lacs. Where will the excess population go? It is apparent that it will just add to the already burgeoning population of the slums and deficient areas.

Here is the biggest challenge to the MPD 2021: to integrate the ground realities of the city (shops and offices in residential areas, unauthorized colonies and constructions, farmhouses and so on) with the steps to be taken to check the unhindered growth of population of the city. The planners have to decide on what to do with the recent hastily issued notifications on mixed land use changes and additional FARs and ground coverages; whether to incorporate them in the draft or not. The real challenges however are: the 6 lac shops in residential areas, houses built beyond the permissible FARs, the more than 1000 unauthorised colonies, luxurious farm houses illegally built on agricultural land, and colonies like Sainik Farms. If MPD 2021 does not address these issues and find practical solutions for them, it will meet the fate of the earlier plans, that of irrelevance and non compliance.

Let us concede that no plan can solve each one of these problems, especially since perceptions as to how to solve these problems differ so widely. But it does seem that a general amnesty, hopefully a one time affair, can be some sort of a solution. General amnesties have succeeded in the past only when it has been ensured that no substantial financial benefit accrues to the law breaker. If this can be ensured then at least the law abider will not have been forced to pay for the misdeeds of his law breaking neighbour; this will also be a deterrent for those who plan to break the law in the future. Before such a scheme can be put into place, we first of all have to have a negative list i.e. cases which cannot be regularized or activities that cannot be allowed in any case. This will include encroachments on government lands or roads, extra floors which endanger the whole structure, fire hazards, trades and industries which are offensive, hazards to health, and so on. Outside this negative list, we can consider all for regularization.

The regularization process so far has been flawed to the extent that we have picked up streets or areas where, say, 70% of houses are being used commercially or have been converted to industries. Thereafter we have converted the land use of the entire area or street in favour of these 70% and thereby punished the remaining 30% whose only fault is that they followed the law. The future consequences of such actions can well be imagined.

What we should do is to tell all these 70% (or even where the figure is less) that you will pay not just for all the unjustified benefits that you have enjoyed but also for the inconvenience that you have caused to your neighbour. With the money so collected we can put up additional parking, lay new roads, make new sewerage lines or provide more water and so on. Now, if the 30% left outs too want to convert their land use, they are free to do so provided they too made the same payments but they should do so now.

Let MPD 2021 declare a general amnesty for the past (subject to a negative list) and allow people in the future to also do the same but it must work out a graded list of charges based not just on the benefit that will or has accrued but also to ensure that the deficiencies in infrastructure and services can be thereby rectified. To remove the chances of inspector raj and corruption, the one time amnesty scheme can be time-bound and requires the violators to file self declarations with a bank draft of at least a substantial part of the sums that they have to pay; this will save them from any sealings or demolitions at least till such time that faults are found with their declarations.

The general amnesty will first of all mean that we need first to provide more parking, wider roads, sewerage, water supply and so on in existing colonies before we think of developing new colonies and malls. And to do this we need money and this money must come not from the general public but from those who flouted the law in the first place. While this will provide funds for the development it will at the same time prove a huge deterrent to those who think of flouting the law in the future.

To remove the chances of Inspector Raj and corruption, the one time amnesty scheme can be time-bound and should require the violators to file self declarations with a bank draft of at least a substantial part of the sums that they have to pay; this will save them from any sealings or demolitions and lead to automatic regularization of the deviations declared. This should be roughly on the basis of the VDS that was implemented sometime back and which resulted in almost eliminating the problem of black money in the country.

The work to augment the infrastructure should start immediately thereafter. The rest of the planning process must be integrated with this. If 6 lac shops are being regularized as part of the amnesty and we need 10 lacs shops till 2021, we must now plan for only 4 lac shops now. As far as offices are concerned, we must ban (more or less) any new constructions on this score. We can do this till time the huge back log in the number of shops, restaurants, hotels and so on has been covered. New offices can come up in the NCR if they cant shift to other cities. And this is as true of government offices as also of new private companies.

Last but not the least, MPD 2021 must address itself to the issue of strengthening the Regional Plan and the NCR. The National Capital Region covers an area of 30,242 sq km, which includes the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi (1,483 sq km), and parts of the three adjoining states of Haryana (13,143 sq km), Rajasthan (4,493 sq km) and Uttar Pradesh (10,583 sq km). If the growth of Delhi continues as in the recent past, sooner than later almost all the 4 crores or so people living in this Region will gravitate to the areas in and around the capital; in such an eventuality the chaos that will be caused can well be imagined.

The core objective of the Regional Plan is to reduce the population pressure on Delhi and achieve a balanced and harmonised development of the entire region, through the creation of physical and economic infrastructure. This it seeks to do with a series of homilies, density norms and a broad land-use plan; it hopes that this will all be reflected in the policies of the State governments and in the Master Plans that the cities and towns will formulate. If this does not happen and the states and city administration seek to charter their own paths, the Regional Plan implementation authority, the NCR Planning Board, no teeth with which to bite or even a shrill enough voice to bark!

As it is, the mismatch between the Delhi Master Plan and the Regional Plan is considerable but when one considers that the Master Plan itself is observed more in violation than in observance (more than half the structures are illegal) the result can be imagined.

The recent tendency of the neighboring States to more than match Delhi in violating the regional plan (SEZs, density norms) will make the situation worse than itis. It is time that we wake up and ensure that the long

term interests are not sacrificed to short term gains. VAT may finally bring some sort of uniformity in tax structures and new technology has paved the way for uniform telecom facilities in the region.. After a long last there is some movement towards integrating the Rail and Road Transport Network, by implementing RRTS; let us now remove restrictions on inter-state movement of taxis and auto rickshaws.

There is a growing concern among planners about the blatant use of ‘non-urbanisable’ areas for new projects, such as Dwarka Phases II, III, and IV, Narela Sub-City, PVC Market at Tikri Kalan and even the Capital Complex of the Delhi Government on the extended bed of the Yamuna, which could have grave repercussions. Now such concerns can be extended to the areas just outside the capital. Let us stop this at once. This could have grave repercussions for the Capital.

Its not just that we stop this violation of the Regional Plan we must also take concrete and positive steps to establish concrete linkages between the core economic activities to be developed in various townships in NCR and those activities which are identified for relocation out of Delhi.

In the end we must remember that a plan is as good as it does; and it does no better than it is intended to. Instead of again talking in turns of platitudes, let us talk of implementing what we had sought out to do when the planning process first started in the sixties. The wrong thing to say is that since the old plan has not worked let us draft a new one that compounds all the old mistakes and assures that this time all this will work.