MASTER PLAN 2021 has designated farmhouses as the lungs of the city.
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The MPD 2021 has shot down proposals of the Delhi government to replace the farmhouses with Special Economic Zones and IT Parks, saying that the farmhouses that are spread over an area of 11,000 hectare constitute the green zone between Delhi and NCR region and would act as a buffer.
The Plan has also not given any importance to an earlier proposal of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) that they should be replaced with multi-storeyed housing structures.
The DDA was of the view that since there are hardly any farming activity that is carried out at these farmhouses, the land available should be used for some other purpose. However, the Urban Development Ministry does not agree with the DDA and feels that such farmlands offer the muchneeded breathing space in the city.
The Master Plan has integrated the policy framed by the Delhi High Court on farmhouses, which allows holding marriage functions in farmhouses that are located along 60 feet or wider roads. Such farmhouses should not be less than 2.5 acres in size, of which one acre should be reserved as parking space within the premises.
“Allowing commercial activities in farmhouses is the only incentive for their owners. The policy framed by the High Court ensures that there is no traffic jam or congestion if such social functions are held in these farmhouses,” said sources in the UD Ministry.
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Will water, power let the city of skyscrapers down?
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Moushumi Das Gupta
New Delhi
THE TRADER-friendly Master Plan 2021 has not only provided blanket regularization to existing commercial activities in the city but has also paved the way for further spurt in such activities in the future. But the plan has remained silent on how the existing civic amenities will be augmented to meet the growing commercial requirement in the city. Present Scenario Even now a stark gap exists — of about 320 million gallons per day (MGD) water — between demand and supply of drinking water requirement in the Capital. Here are the figures: At present while the demand for potable water in the Capital is 990 MGD, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) supplies only 670 MGD. On the power front, while the demand has been hovering at 4,000 MW, the supply from Delhi’s own generating plants is just 1,200 MW. Projections in Master Plan 2021 The Master Plan has projected that by 2021 the Capital’s drinking water requirement would be 1,380 MGD. But according to figures made available by the DJB, the agency would be in a position to provide treated water to the capacity of 941 MGD by the year 2021. Besides, Delhi power requirement by 2021 has been projected at 11,000 MW. Is it adequate?
The projections for water has been made to cater to a population of 231 lakh. A senior DJB official said, “To start with the city is already facing a shortage of 439 MGD. And with further commercialization this figure will only go up. But nobody is saying where will the additional water come from.” Proposals in Master Plan DDA officials said that Master Plan 2021 has proposed a slew of measures that can help Delhi meet its drinking water supply. These include expediting the construction of dams like Renuka in Himachal Pradesh, Kishau and Lakhwar Vyasi in Uttaranchal, augmenting the existing water treatment plants (WTPs) and setting up new WTPs at Dwarka, Bawana and Okhla.
But planners said that most of the proposals made in the Master Plan have failed to see the light of the day. “The proposals to construct Kishau and Lakhwar Vyasi dams was there in the second Master Plan (1981-2001) which was notified in August 1990. The same proposals have been made in Master Plan-2021 also. All these proposals have remained only on paper,” said a planner involved in the making of the 2001 Master Plan.
Even on the power front, proposals have been made to augment the city’s power generation to 10,000 MW by 2010 itself.
“There is a need to rev up the infrastructure to compliment the growth (both in housing and commercial sector) proposed in the Master Plan 2021. Without adequate sustaining infrastructure all the developments will come to a naught,” said AGK Menon, noted urban planner.
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Now there’s space for everyone
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Vibha Sharma and Sidhartha Roy
New Delhi
THE VEHICULAR mass in Delhi far exceeds the combined motor vehicle density of three metros, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. Ap proximately 4.5 million motor vehicles ply on the city's roads, says P.K. Sarkar, a professor and traffic expert at the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA). Quite a miserable condition since the city does not have enough parking bays to accommodate these vehicles. But things are set to change for the better. The Master Plan 2021 promises to make daily driving an easy park-and-ride affair. After all, liberal building bylaws, commercialisation and mixed land use policies will only add to the city's traffic density.
Easy come, easy go
The Master Plan has devoted a special chapter to parking problems. Besides creating park-and-ride facilities, the Master Plan has concentrated on multi-level parking lots.
Twenty-four sites have been identified by the DDA, the MCD and the NDMC for multi-level parking lots. On a case-to-case basis, developers are likely to be given certain concessions in terms of maximum ground coverage, floor area ratio, height and setbacks. The minimum plot size for multi-level parking lots has been specified as 1,000 square meters. But smaller plots may also be cleared, if they are found to be technically feasible.
There is also a renewed emphasis on strengthening the public transport system.
Are multi-level parking lots worth it?
Multi-level parking lots are an expensive affair. Chairman of the Environment Pollution Control Authority Bhure Lal feels that private cars are a personal luxury, and therefore, public money should not be used for funding the construction of multi-level parking lots. SPA Prof. Sarkar argues that the planners have not carried out any scientific analysis of the demand and supply. "Today, there is no restriction on the number of vehicles one can buy. Every earning member in a family owns a separate car, and they all blame the civic authorities for not providing enough parking facilities.” The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) recently carried out a study for multi-level parking lots in nine areas - Lajpat Nagar, Nehru Place, Karol Bagh, Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazaar, Kamla Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Ajmeri Gate and Darya Ganj. CRRI found that the demand for parking space far exceeds the availability. In Lajpat Nagar, for example, parking space is available for only 1,598 vehicles while the demand is for 2,604 vehicles. It was a similar story at Karol Bagh, Darya Ganj, Krishna Nagar and other areas. The study says the demand would far outstrip the supply by 2010.
High parking fee
The Master Plan offers no permanent solutions to the ever-increasing demand for parking space. Though it suggests that registration of new vehicles be made in accordance with the availability of parking facilities, the rule is not binding. "Before purchasing a new vehicle, people should inform the authorities whether or not they have adequate parking space. There should be strict enforcement of laws in such cases. Otherwise, there can be no control over the growth of vehicular population," said Sarkar. "In foreign countries, authorities discourage people from using private vehicles by offering them better transportation models," he said. But then, there are many takers for multi-level parking lots.
Experts suggest that funds for multi-level parking lots should be raised from the private sector or personal vehicle users. As for now, the Master Plan proposes that developers should be allowed to use 25 per cent of the gross floor area as commercial space to build multi-level parking lots. But that too is a costly proposition.
"The parking fee would be very high once the developer hands over the site back to the civic agencies," said a senior MCD officer. Even CRRI suggests that the parking fee for convenient spots (near roads) should be on the higher side.
vibha@hindustantimes.com, sidhartha.roy@hindustantimes.com
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