NCR Now 2.28 Times bigger than Washington Metropolitan Area
The National Capital Region (NCR) is all set to get bigger.
With the decision to include Jind and Karnal districts of Haryana and Muzaffarnagar district of UP, the city boundaries are set to expand. This big decision came into light at the 35th meeting of the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB), which was headed by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, chairman of the NCRPB. With this, Delhi NCR now has a total of 23 districts covering a total area of about 51,109 km2. While if we look at Washington’s metropolitan area, it stands at just 15,540 km2*.
What is Haryana Demanding?
Speedy Completion of 3 Proposed Dams: The Haryana CM urged the board to take up the matter of three proposed dams of Renuka, Kishau and Lakhwar on the Yamuna and its tributaries with the Centre for their speedy completion.
How will it help: Once completed, it is expected to resolve the problem of acute water shortage in Delhi and some districts of Haryana to a certain extent.
International Airport at Hisar: the second demand put forward is to get an in-principle approval for setting up an alternate international Airport at Hisar.
How will it help: It is expected to provide maintenance and repair operations (MRO) facilities for the aircraft in the northern part of the country.
Alignment of 3 RRTS Corridors: For swift connectivity within the NCR, the Haryana CM also asked for alignment of three Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridors – Delhi-Gurgaon-Rewari-Alwar (DGRA), Delhi-Sonipat-Panipat (DSP) and Delhi-Gaziabad-Meerut (DGM).
How will it help: It will enhance inter-region connectivity.
Funding: Since these projects are of national importance, a request was made to the Union Government to fully fund these projects.
What’s More?
To ensure preservation, the state of Haryana has agreed to demarcate 500-metre buffer zone for the protection of Mangar Bani green cover at Mangar village in Faridabad district. Thus, no construction will happen in this zone.
Will inclusion of distant towns help?
Considering NCR’s population growth, to meet the growing housing demand, expansion looks imperative. However, just adding more districts won’t be of much help until and unless requisite infrastructure is developed. If implemented properly, more investment regions will open up.
However, in the absence of proper planning, developers might just start hoarding land in these place, which will just led to speculative price rise.
Important Timelines
*http://web.archive.org/web/20071212055758/http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/content_multi_image_0019.shtm
