NEW DELHI: Four greenfield “Namo Cities” will be developed in National Capital Region (NCR) – one each in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan – with central assistance of Rs 5,000 crore over five years, Union housing and urban affairs minister Manohar Lal said Tuesday. He added that NCR’s existing area of 55,083 sq km will remain unchanged and no district currently included in the region will be excluded.These decisions were taken at the NCR Planning Board (NCRPB) meeting chaired by Lal and attended by Delhi CM Rekha Gupta, her Haryana counterpart Nayab Singh Saini and Uttar Pradesh urban development minister A K Sharma and Rajasthan UD minister Jhabar Singh Kharra. The board discussed the Regional Plan 2041.Speaking to reporters after the board meeting, Lal said the new cities to be called “Namo Nodes” will be developed under the Regional Plan. He added each state will submit three proposals and one of them will be selected through a challenge. A city node refers to a designated urban centre connected to other cities through transport networks and has physical and social infrastructure to support housing, commercial activities, employment, healthcare and education.TOI had last week reported the plan to develop new cities and no redrawing of NCR area. People aware of the deliberations said these cities would get high-speed road or rapid rail connectivity. Responding to a question on how Delhi can participate in this challenge, Lal said, “There are large tracts of vacant land on its outskirts where a sub-city could be developed”.UP minister Sharma said they have proposed the Noida, Dadri, Jewar and Bulandshahr as potential candidates for development of a greenfield city while his Rajasthan counterpart Kharra said they would submit their proposals soon.The necessity of developing new cities was felt considering that the population in NCR is estimated to double to touch 15 crore in the next 15 years and urban populations would be around 67% by 2041.The Union minister said that states discussed every aspect of the Regional Plan while adding that another meeting will be held after two months, where it will be finally declared. Separately, Haryana CM told reporters that the next meeting of the board will be held in Dec in Gurgaon where the Regional Plan will be approved.The board also decided to divide the NCR into four zones, including Delhi, Central NCR (from Delhi borders up to 5-km beyond Eastern and Western Expressways), highway corridor zone and transit oriented development. Officials said the Central NCR will be the “golden ring of opportunity” in the region to push urban development.On the decision not to shrink the NCR area – a proposal earlier made by Haryana govt to take out Karnal, Jind, Panipat, Mahendragarh and Bhiwani from the NCR – Lal said, “After deliberation, it was decided that the entire area will remain as it is. There will be no change. The demand for reducing area arose due to concerns over some environmental issues such as repeated imposition of restrictions, especially when there is congestion and when GRAP is applied.“The minister added that all such restrictions will now be applied in a graded manner and the decision to impose any restriction would be applied to particular areas. “In this way, the difficulties faced by the distant districts outside will not occur,” he said.Speaking about the meeting, Delhi CM said all member states must work jointly to provide adequate and quality services to people across the NCR, ensuring balanced development and an improved quality of life for citizens.
