The National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) has signed an agreement with the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRCS) in Hyderabad to prepare satellite images of NCR towns to assess whether the norms laid down by the Board have been adhered to or flouted. The data collated through satellite images will also help in the review of the regional and sub-regional Master Plans and their supervision.
An official of the NCRPB said on Wednesday that the NRSC has been given six months to complete the study and four months to come up with a preliminary report. “We are in the midst of revising the regional plan and the satellite image data that will be provided by the NRSC will help in that work. We want to make sure that the regional plans are in sync with the Master Plan,” he said.
As per the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the NCRPB and the NRSC, the study will enable mapping of the existing urban land use and land cover 2012 and changes between the years 1999 and 2012. It will cover 16 districts and four sub-regions of the NCR to review the land use proposals of the Regional Plan-2021.
The study will allow the NCRPB to review the total built up area, land use pattern, green cover extent, and other developmental works. “While the NRSC data gets ready, we have concurrently set up seven to eight study groups to work on various mandates, including study of demographic and economic profile of the NCR, transport plan, water and ground water plan, etc. These study groups have already begun their work,” said the official.
NCRPB takes on an “interactive” role in drafting and finalising the Master plan, the official said, adding: “Recently the Greater Noida Authorities incorporated a lot of changes in the Master plan after we made several suggestions. The Master plan is currently being reviewed by the NCRPB and will be approved in the next 10 days.”
The official said the NCRPB had asked for the Greater Noida Master Plan to increase the allotment of housing for the economically weaker sections (EWS) from five per cent to 20-25 per cent. “The earlier Greater Noida Plan had proposed development of the city for 54 persons per hectare. The plan now proposes to achieve targeted population and density as per the Regional Plan-2021. The NCRPB has asked for 16 per cent of the total urbanised area to be reserved as the minimum green,” the official said. “We have to ensure that the Master Plan makes cities environmentally sustainable, greener and the land use planning is in sync with the Regional plan-2021.”
Among other changes the NCRPB has suggested in the Master Plan are sites for solid waste management, sewage treatment plant, expressways, metro, railway station, bus terminals have now been shown on the land use plan. “Action plan for implementation and its phasing will be added before the notification of the final plan by the State Government has been incorporated and changes have also been made in the transport plan,” the official said.
In the revised Mater Plan for Greater Noida there is a provision for feeder link between eastern and western freight corridors incorporated in the land use plan, regional rapid transit system corridor from Ghaziabad to Khurja along the Aligarh railway line.
