11/2/13 Strategic green review of NCR Regional Plan stressed - The Hindu

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Published: November 2, 2013 00:00 IST | Updated: November 2, 2013 05:33 IST

Strategic green review of NCR Regional Plan stressed

Ashok Kumar

Lack of environmental oversight in identified as key regulatory gap

Urban planners and environmental analysts have stressed the need for the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)of the revised draft NCR Regional Plan-2021 and other such broad scale plans and representation for Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests on the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB).

The view was expressed at a seminar on Environmental Safeguards in the Regional Plan-2021 hosted by INTACH andPEACE at the INTACH office here.

The seminar had presentations from Asesh Maitra and Meenaksi Dhote from the School of Planning and Architecture(SPA); Manu Bhatnagar of INTACH; Manoj Misra from PEACE and environmental analyst Chetan Agarwal. Severalretired planners, NGOs and citizen groups also attended the meeting. They included members of Centre for Scienceand Environment, Foundation for Ecological Security, Natural Heritage First and the Indian Institute for PublicAdministration.

The lack of environmental oversight in the regional planning process was identified as a key regulatory gap at themeeting. While individual projects require environmental clearance, there is currently no practice of review under theEnvironment Protection Act of Master Plans and the NCR Regional Plan — which make much more importantdecisions about areas to conserve and thus impact the environmental sustainability of the towns and the NCR, theparticipants argued. It was accordingly recommended that a SEA should be undertaken for the revised draft RegionalPlan-2021 and the findings be fed into the planning process.

“The NCR Regional Plan acts as a model for Master Plans of all other regions across the country and therefore hasimmense significance. It is also an important instrument for balancing development and conservation andmaintaining the carrying capacity of the NCR and protecting the environmentally sensitive areas which are strategicenvironmental assets on which rests the drinking water security of the region. The Ministry of Environment andForests, therefore, must get representation on the NCRPB,” said Prof. Mitra, the former director of SPA.

It was also recommended that given the numerous small and large changes proposed, a list of the changes made in thecurrent Regional Plan-2021, and the rationale for the same, should be prepared by the NCRPB so that citizens andother stakeholders can understand what changes have been proposed.

“Also there is no reference to the origin of changes made in the plan. It is not known as to who suggested the changes.Besides, there is no provision for public hearings for the objections made to the Regional Plan. All these anomaliesshould be rectified,” suggested Mr. Agarwal.

The participants asserted that many important environmental provisions and safeguards in the current Regional Plan2021 were not implemented or achieved, including (i) promulgation of the Natural Conservation Zones with a 0.5 percent restriction on construction, and (ii) land suitability analysis, etc.

The revised draft Regional Plan- 2021, which also highlighted the problem of unplanned growth, has significantlydiluted key environmental safeguards for the environmentally sensitive areas such as the Aravallis and the Yamunaand other riverbeds instead of plugging the gaps in the implementation.

The meeting concluded that these and other safeguards should be retained in the Regional Plan 2021 andimplemented with full backing of the NCRPB. If at all any revision is required, they should aim at updating the planwith the implications from new statutes, international commitments in the field of climate change, environmentalpolicy, disaster management, biodiversity, etc.

It was felt that if these changes were approved, it would lead to a fait accompli situation with disastrous outcomes forthe drinking water security of the National Capital Region towns and cities, as well as the biodiversity and air quality.

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11/2/13 Strategic green review of NCR Regional Plan stressed - The Hindu

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