IAS Daily Dose: Current Affairs 2013 for UPSC IAS Exam - Revised Mater Plan for Greater Noida

The new city of Greater Noida is located close to the National Capital of Delhi in the National Capital Region (NCR). It is situated in close proximity to Delhi at a distance of about 25 Kms from the border of Delhi (at Okhla Barrage). The notified area of Greater Noida comprises of 124 villages and about 40000 Ha.

The creation of Greater Noida is an outcome of the intensive pressure of the National Capital of Delhi on its periphery.

Recently the Greater Noida Authorities incorporated a lot of changes in the Master plan. NCRPB ordered the Greater Noida Master Plan to increase the allotment of housing for the economically weaker sections (EWS) from five per cent to 20-25 per cent. The decision was taken after considering the fact that Greater Noida being an industrial township will have to fulfill the future demand for affordable housing units for employees working in industries. The earlier Greater Noida Plan had proposed development of the city for 54 persons per hectare. The plan now proposes to achieve targeted population and density as per the Regional Plan-2021.

To ensure sustainable development in the Greater Noida region, the planning board has directed the Authority to prepare an Environmental Master Plan. This plan will have to be an integral part of Master Plan 2021. To maintain optimum green cover, the planning board had suggested the Authority to maintain minimum green area in Greater Noida at 16% of total urbanisable area. The authority, which had earlier also included 'institutional greens' under the ambit of total green cover, will now ensure that this category is excluded in calculating total green cover of Greater Noida. Out of a total urbanisable area of 22,255 hectares, the minimum green area to be maintained by the Authority is 3,580 hectares. This green cover will be preserved and protected and not subjected to any land-use change in the future.

Among other changes the NCRPB has suggested in the Master Plan are sites for solid waste management, sewage treatment plant, expressways, metro, railway station, bus terminals have now been shown on the land use plan.

In the revised Mater Plan for Greater Noida there is also a provision for feeder link between eastern and western freight corridors incorporated in the land use plan, regional rapid transit system corridor from Ghaziabad to Khurja along the Aligarh railway line.

The National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) has also signed an agreement with the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRCS) in Hyderabad to prepare satellite images of NCR towns to assess whether the norms laid down by the Board have been adhered to or flouted. The data collated through satellite images will also help in the review of the regional and sub-regional Master Plans and their supervision.

As per the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the NCRPB and the NRSC, the study will enable mapping of the existing urban land use and land cover and changes between the years 1999 and 2012. It will cover 16 districts and four sub-regions of the NCR to review the land use proposals of the Regional Plan-2021.

The study will allow the NCRPB to review the total built up area, land use pattern, green cover extent, and other developmental works.