The Hindu : Centre does little to promote NCR: Sheila

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 17, 2003

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Other States - New Delhi

Centre does little to promote NCR: Sheila

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI JULY 16. Squarely blaming the Central Government for doing little to promote the National Capital Region (NCR) concept which had led to a situation where Delhi was bursting at the seams, the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, said today that there was an urgent need to focus attention on developing the NCR in order to de-congest Delhi which was struggling to keep pace with the population and civic services pressure.

``The blame for the failure of the NCR concept lies squarely at the doorstep of the Central Government and the NCR member States like Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The Centre needs to clearly prioritise the whole thing in order to remove the pressure on Delhi. It is important that major steps be initiated to integrate the growth of NCR townships with that of the Capital by developing the necessary economic activity and infrastructure. Till this is done, it would be difficult to control the inflow of population into Delhi and its unplanned growth,'' Ms. Dikshit remarked.

The Chief Minister said while Delhi made its commitment to the promotion of NCR, other States are not willing to spend money for its development. It is the prime responsibility of the Central Government to take the lead in this matter and ensure that member States comply with the parameters set for growth of the NCR townships. In fact, the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) needs to be empowered more as its role in the present circumstances hardly made a difference to the development of the region. "There is an urgent need to ensure proper economic development of the entire NCR townships. A special economic zone with certain concessions needs to be created in these areas in order to attract people and investments for a uniform development,'' she added.

Warning that things were slowly and steadily going out of control in the Capital, the Chief Minister said if the Centre and the member States do not ensure growth of NCR townships then Delhi could well face a very difficult situation. With the bulging population graph of 1.39 crores and immense pressure on civic services, Delhi could no longer afford to absorb the kind of population invasion it has been witnessing during the past few years. Ms. Dikshit was also critical of the manner in which the working of the NCRPB was conducted by the Union Urban Development Ministry. During the past four and half years of being in office, only one meeting of the NCRPB had been convened which also saw States blaming each other for the mess.

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Centre does little to promote NCR: Sheila