Aravali safeguard NCZ set to stay in NCR Plan 2041 after years of debate

NEW DELHI: The NCR Regional Plan 2041 will finally retain “Natural Conservation Zone” (NCZ), a key safeguard for the protection of the Aravali across the region, as per the agenda circulated for the NCR Planning Board’s (NCRPB) meeting among participating states, scheduled for June 16.

The move follows nearly five years of deliberations, including repeated attempts by Haryana to replace NCZ with “Natural Zone” and to substitute references to the Aravali with the more generic term “hills”.

The agenda circulated last week states that the “Conservation Zone (NCZ) of RP-2021 will be retained in RP-2041”. “All statutes, rules, notifications and orders of MoEF&CC, other central govt ministries/departments, and orders of Supreme Court and high courts issued from time to time, pertaining to NCZ, will have to be strictly followed by the NCR constituents,” it stated.

When the Draft Regional Plan (RP), released in Dec 2021, proposed replacing NCZ with “Natural Zone”, it triggered widespread opposition. Majority of the 4,519 objections and suggestions received were against the proposed change.

Subsequently, PMO and a Group of Ministers led by Union home minister Amit Shah directed housing and urban affairs ministry to retain the NCZ provision, which exists in RP-2021 and not reduce NCR's geographical area, a development first reported by TOI on July 12, 2024.

As per RP-2021, it is mandatory for states to protect areas falling under NCZ, which include environmentally sensitive areas, extension of Aravali ridge, forest areas, rivers and tributaries, major lakes and water bodies in NCR.

The norm puts severe restrictions on any non-forest activities in these areas and construction of only up to 0.5% of the area in case of regional recreational activities and that too with prior permission of Centre.

While retaining this provision will almost protect the Aravali and other eco-sensitive zones in NCR, the agenda mentions that extent of natural features under NCZ, will be identified, ascertained and delineated by NCR participating states in accordance with the definition, using ground truthing and revenue records. Experts said this is an area of concern.

“Despite keeping the new draft RP-2041 on hold for so many years, NCRPB has still not undertaken a satellite-based ground truthing as required by the National Green Tribunal in its 2021 order. They have also not made an existing land use map, an essential planning requirement that would provide real-time satellite-based clarity about extent of construction and NCZ area loss,” independent forest analyst and senior fellow at CEDAR Chetan Agarwal said. Instead, NCRPB has “abdicated its responsibility and allowed states to continue to do a so-called ‘ground-truthing’ of NCZ which states such as Haryana have been doing since 2014 with no finality in sight,” he said.

The agenda proposes that NCZ may be promoted and conserved with the help of innovative non-financial instruments such as Special Development Rights that may be made transferable and saleable to incentivise private and public land owners of such areas. It adds that Transferable and Saleable Development Rights for NCZ (NCZ-TDR) may be provided by respective NCR states.

TOI has learnt that as per the revised estimate, population in NCR would be around 10.86 crore by 2031 and 14.73 crore by 2041, compared to 7.87 crore in 2021. While share of Delhi’s population in NCR would reduce from 26.2% in 2021 to 19.8%, share of Haryana is projected to rise steadily.

For improving regional connectivity, the plan recommends expediting three new Namo Bharat RRTS corridors — Ghaziabad-Noida International Airport (Jewar), Gurgaon-Faridabad-Noida-Gr Noida and Delhi-Surajpur with a combined length of 178 km. It also takes note of the proposed three Orbital Rail Corridors (ORCs) to be developed based on feasibility. Haryana targets to complete ORC-I connecting Palwal-Sonipat and the board has recommended UP to develop ORC connecting Palwal-Khurja-Meerut-Bagapat- Sonipat, to complete the circle by 2030.