Delhi’s Regeneration Policy for Old Areas
The Master Plan of Delhi-2041, which is the vision document for the city, will spell out a detailed “regeneration policy” for areas that have come up decades ago and now need better civic infrastructure. Though the current master plan also allows redevelopment of existing areas but the Delhi Deve
Published -
Sep 15, 2020 6:29 AM
The Master Plan of Delhi-2041, which is the vision document for the city, will spell out a detailed “regeneration policy” for areas that have come up decades ago and now need better civic infrastructure. Though the current master plan also allows redevelopment of existing areas but the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has asked the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), which is preparing the next master plan, to work on a regeneration policy keeping the ground realities in mind. DDA vice-chairman Anurag Jain said, “The regeneration policy will be one of the key focus areas on the new Master Plan. It is an important aspect, as large parts of the city were developed a long time back. The city has grown over the years and so has the infrastructure requirement. Regeneration of old areas in a planned manner will help in providing better civic infrastructure and basic amenities” The policy will only provide a legal provision and a road map for redevelopment but it is up to the people of a particular locality to pool in land — the critical component to build new facilities — for more amenities with the DDA only facilitating the effort. Several housing societies in Indraprastha Extension in East Delhi, which came up in the late 70s and early 80s, have been demanding redevelopment. Despite several efforts by some residents, no redevelopment projects were sanctioned in this area. Urban development experts agree that a regeneration or redevelopment policy is needed, as there are several areas, especially urbanised villages, unauthorised colonies, resettlement colonies, where redevelopment is the only way forward to improve the quality of life. But instead of a broad policy, efforts should be made to chalk out area-specific plans, they added. To ensure that the policy gets implemented and people actually benefit from it, AK Jain, former planning commission with the DDA, said the policy should encourage community-based approach and be area specific. “For the redevelopment, we can’t have a blanket policy for all the areas. It should be area specific as the problems of an urbanised village are very different from a plotted colony or unauthorised colonies. There are other issues too which needs to be addressed.”
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