Delhi Master Plan comes into effect

The provisions of the plan have brought smile on the face of traders operating business units in residential areas.

After a year-long agitation that saw bloody battles played out on the capital's streets, the Delhi Master Plan 2021 was notified late on Wednesday with provisions that have brought smile on the face of thousands of traders operating business units in residential areas.

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Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy late Wednesday night put his final signature to the master plan that comes into effect immediately.

The MPD-2021 has included Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)-notified 2,183 roads for mixed land use - that is, areas where housing and commercial units can exist side by side. Besides, small shops of daily needs have been permitted in residential areas. The plan also said that there would be no height restrictions for group housing schemes.

It has also asked the MCD to conduct a survey and prepare a note on roads where commercial activities can be allowed. MCD has to submit the report within three months.

Schools running in residential areas are a major beneficiary. They will not be sealed for the next three years but coaching centres built over 250 square meters of land will have to be closed. All nursing homes have been regularised. Play schools will be allowed to run only on ground floor.

It has also provisions for allowing commercial activity without any sealing threat in markets constructed before 1962. Many illegal colonies would also get legalised, too.

The new plan has provision for building 2.4 million new homes but they will be constructed by group housing societies instead of Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

District and community centres would be developed as facility corridors along major transport networks to prevent unintended and unplanned ribbon development and for better synergy between public transport and work centres.

One important feature of the new master plan is that it will be up for review every five years.

Provisions have been laid for informal shops, weekly markets, handicrafts bazaars, used books, furniture, building materials markets with basic services like toilets, water points etc. It has earmarked 'hawking' and 'no hawking' zones at neighbourhood and cluster levels.

A new parking policy with specific development control norms for multilevel parking sites and enhanced parking norms for all categories of uses have also been incorporated in the Master Plan.

The plan was prepared by the DDA with support from 12 special groups constituted to address several aspects of town planning and was assisted by four studies conducted for the purpose.

Speaking about the provision, trade leader Praveen Khandelwal said: "It is a result of our fight over the year. We hope MCD will conduct an impartial survey of roads beyond these 2,183 roads and help traders earn their livelihood."