SHIVANI SINGH

Put on the back foot by the revival of the Supreme Court-monitored committee on sealing and demolition, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is yet again seeking to sidestep the crisis through the regularisation route by tweaking the Delhi Master Plan. While the Authority is yet to justify such attempts before the apex court, the expiry of the current Master Plan in 2021 gives it an opportunity to hasten the redrafting exercise.

The changing realities of Delhi may indeed require updating the Master Plan, but the current crisis was not caused by any lack of vision in planning. Instead, it is the persistent failure of the authorities to implement successive Master Plans since the 1960s that have created the urban mess in Delhi.

Drawn up 56 years ago, the first Master Plan identified the need for developing ‘ring towns’ around Delhi to absorb the future growth. Prescribing only a “modest growth” for Gurgaon “which was handicapped for want of good water sources,” the planners asked for the development of Delhi Metropolitan area to include Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Bahadurgarh, Ballabhgarh and Loni.

Narela was singled out for its potential with adequate water, a wholesale food market and manufacturing units. By the time the urbanisation of Delhi was to reach its optimum limit in 1981, the planners recommended that the Narela Township