Delhi needs inspector-free master plan, says Kamal Nath

Pitching for a user-friendly master plan for Delhi, Union minister of urban development Kamal Nath said on Thursday the master plan of Delhi, 2021 must be reviewed in a way that it becomes less ‘complicated’ and free from ‘Inspector Raj’.

“If we are making a master plan for the people, it should be a plan which any common man can understand.

“We cannot have such a provision in the master plan which I don’t understand. Several provisions of the plan are very complicated. Non-user friendly language and provisions will only perpetuate inspector Raj,” said Kamal Nath.

Nath was speaking about the ongoing review of the master plan for Delhi, 2021 at an event organised by PHDCCI.

Criticising the current master plan which was notified in 2007, Nath stressed that apart from being user-friendly, the master plan of a city like Delhi must be futuristic.

The minister also said floor area ratio laws should be relooked at to meet the growing needs of the city.

“Five lakh people are coming to Delhi in search of job from all across the country every year. In the revision of the master plan, we need to ensure that better habitat is provided to them.

“In order to meet the future demands, we also need to relook the FAR rules. However, we would have to figure out pockets in the city where we can increase FAR because the higher FAR requires better infrastructure in terms of sewage, roads and parking,” Nath said.     

Nath emphasised that his ministry and the DDA is trying to make the review as interactive as possible.

“We have invited all kind of suggestions. Each suggestion would be considered. In fact we already have received around 1,900 suggestions, out of which, around 1,500 have been scanned and put online,” Nath said.

An apex committee, chaired by the Lieutenant General of Delhi, would examine these suggestions before the ministry reviews them, he said.

Apart from the apex committee, 11 management groups had also been formed to look into the various aspects of the master plan review.