Delhi Master Plan 2021, the Manifesto for State Development

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 6 March, stayed the notification on the proposed amendments to the Delhi Master Plan 2021, which allows for a mixed land-use policy, under which commercial and residential establishments can function in a simultaneous but restricted manner.The passing of these amendments would have significantly helped protect traders in the national capital from a sealing drive by a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee.While the Delhi Master Plan called for large-scale sealing drive in the capital that shut down almost 600 establishments across popular markets like Karol Bagh, Model Town, and Defence Colony, here’s taking a look at the purpose of the plan and the impact of an amendment to it for the population in general and local businesses in particular.According to The Indian Express, the Supreme Court pulled up the Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), and three Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCDs) for not filing affidavits on how the new amendments to the Master Plan would impact the environment, before they were passed.These amendments include: a uniform floor area ration (FAR) of 350 for shop-cum-residential plots, use of basements to run businesses, and rationalisation of conversion charges, reported Hindustan Times. Additionally, the DDA had proposed that outlets that served alcohol in residential areas would have to shift, while pubs would be given six months to relocate, the report added.The DDA, under the leadership of Lt Governor Anil Baijal, had proposed that outlets that served alcohol in residential areas would have to shift, while pubs would be given six months to relocate.Expressing its displeasure with the changes recommended by the DDA, the SC said: “This dadagiri has to stop. You can’t tell this court that you keep passing orders but we will do what we want to. Is this rule of law?”According to the official website of the Delhi Master Plan, Vision-2021, the guiding principle for the execution of the Master Plan is to make “Delhi a global metropolis and a world-class city,” where its people would be offered both a conducive atmosphere and the kind of infrastructure which would allow them to lead a better quality life in a sustainable environment.To the DDA, the Master Plan is the document that puts forth the planning guidelines, policies, development code and space requirements that come under the different socio-economic activities, which support the population of Delhi during the plan period.The Master Plan addresses 18 different categories, which include land policy, public participation and plan implementation, redevelopment, shelter, housing for the poor, environment, and unauthorised colonies. The Delhi Master Plan was first drafted back in 1962. It was later revised in 1982 to become the ‘Master Plan 2001,’ which too was amended in 2007 as the ‘Master Plan 2021.’As part of the Delhi Master Plan 2021, a massive sealing-drive was carried out in the capital, the first since 2006, that sealed off over 600 establishments. The current matter in debate is in terms of the proposed amendments to the plan, which would help protect local traders and businesses from the sealing.The court is now resisting this.According to The Indian Express, the amendments were added to help the owners running commercial establishments from the Supreme Court-mandated sealing drive.As per legal provision, the proposed amendments in the Delhi Master Plan 2021, following the approval of the DDA on 2 February, was put up in public domain from 3-7 February for suggestions or objections.PTI reported that as many as 741 objections and suggestions were received and about 210 representatives also made oral submissions before the Board of Enquiry and Hearing.The establishments that fell prey to this sealing drive that was conducted as part of the Master Plan, succumbed either due to their failure to pay conversion charges or for running unauthorised businesses from basements.The amendments mostly refer to increasing the floor area ratio (FAR), which is the ratio of a building’s total floor area in terms of the size of the land on which it stands, the report added. These amendments raised the FAR from 180 to 350, which is on par with the one demarkating residential plots and which is to be kept uniform for different commercial establishments.The amendments also refer to the reduction of conversion charges and permission for plots to be amalgamated for parking. For the first, the rates were dropped from Rs 80,000 per square metre to Rs 22,000 per square metre, with the conversion charges being linked to property circle rates, The Indian Express reported. The second was to make the markets pedestrian-only, if the establishments in question couldn’t provide parking in the vicinity.The AAP and the BJP have been locking horns over the amendments proposed to the Delhi Master Plan, since they were approved in a meeting of the DDA on 2 February.AAP leaders such as Somnath Bharti had credited party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with helping make the changes happen by “his struggle,” reported IANS.BJP MLA OP Sharma, on the other hand, referred to the changes in question as a "historic decision by the central government.” He also stated that Kejriwal was misleading the traders on the sealing drive.Both politicians are also members of the DDA.They were also on opposing sides of how the amendments to the Master Plan should be carried out. According to HT, AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj had suggested that the land-owning agency should make clear how the funds that are collected as conversion charges from local traders and businessmen would be spent. Objecting to this, BJP MLA Vijender Gupta said the AAP was purposefully making “political statements.”Kejriwal had also led his party into holding a protest march against the sealing drive, that was being carried out by three BJP-centred municipal corporations.

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Delhi Master Plan 2021, the Manifesto for State Development

Amendments proposed to the Master Plan aim to protect the traders from a sealing drive by a SC-appointed committee.