NEW DELHI: The four participating states in the National Capital Region (NCR) on Tuesday tried to find a middle ground on the proposed delineation of the region, which may result in reduction of the total area, after Haryana pushed for drastic reduction of its area under the NCR. The states have a consensus that the geographical size of the region should be a contiguous circular region of 100 km radius from Rajghat (Delhi), a statement from the housing and urban affairs ministry said.
"Beyond 100 km radius and up to the existing NCR boundary, all notified cities and towns along with a corridor of 1-km on either side of connecting Expressways, National Highways, state highways and Regional Rapid Transit System will be included. Further, the decision to include or omit tehsils lying partly within this 100 km delineation shall be left to the respective state governments," the ministry said.
Union urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri chaired the meeting of NCR planning board on Tuesday where the issue came up for discussion. Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who attended the meeting, had earlier raised the issue of how a large portion of his state has come under the NCR. The state had urged the NCRPB to decrease its area. The NCR includes 14 out of 22 districts of Haryana and nearly 46% of the region falls in the state.
"The NCR area has increased from 30,242 sq km in 2001 to 55,083 sq km now. Earlier, when we had any reservation about adding more areas the states would ask why we were against expansion of the region. Originally, the NCR covered areas falling within 100 km radius. Though the current consensus is a proposed one, it’s in the right direction. But delineation cannot be based on just a boundary put on paper, but we have to consider the administrative boundaries of districts or tehsil," said an official, who did not wish to be named.
The ministry said the representatives from states also discussed the issue of Natural Conservation Zones and it was agreed that this be called a “Natural Zone” and development within this be protected, conserved, regulated and utilized as per relevant central and state laws and directions of the courts and NGT.
