Master Plan 2041: Window for suggestions too short, say citizen groups

The Delhi Development Authority on July 1 started a series of public discussions on provisions of the MPD-2041. The last of these will be held on July 20.

Resident groups, traders and civil society members in the city said they want the Capital’s land-owning agency to extend the July 23 deadline to submit their comments on the draft Master Plan of Delhi — 2041, which was put up for public scrutiny last month. The Delhi Development Authority on July 1 started a series of public discussions on provisions of the MPD-2041. The last of these will be held on July 20.

The new MPD is going to focus on development of infrastructure in Delhi’s unauthorised colonies. (Sanchit Khanna/HT photo)

Vishal Ohri, general secretary of the Local Shopping Complex Federation of Delhi, said, “The development control norms, especially with respect to local shopping complexes, in the draft are not clear. They have made the matter more complex. This requires detailed deliberations. How do you expect people to file comments within three days?”

Members of the Main Bhi Dilli campaign, a collective that aims to make planning in Delhi ‘more representative and inclusive’, have also said the 45-day discussion window is too short, especially due to limitations as a result of the pandemic.

A senior DDA official, “No decision has been taken on extending the deadline so far. The current process is as per the Delhi Development Act, 1957, and we have to complete it according to the protocols.”