During a high-level meeting of DDA chaired by capital LG Anil Baijal, the proposal to constitute a board to conduct the public hearing, which will be held online in view of the Covid-19 protocols, was recently approved.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) will start the public consultation process for finalising the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD)-2041 in October, with a senior official noting that the land-owning agency has received around 33,000 comments from the public on the draft plan which was put in the public domain in June this year.

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“We are in the process of sorting the comments received based on various chapters of the draft master plan. Once it is complete, we will prepare the plan for a public hearing, which will mostly be held in October,” said a senior DDA official, aware of the matter. DDA officials said that arrangements will be made for the public to participate in the online hearing.

“We held public consultations online last year when the master plan was being prepared to get people’s perspective. This year, we held an online consultation after the MPD-2041 was put in the public domain to clarify people’s doubts related to the new plan,” said the official.

The land-owning agency plans to notify MPD-2041, the vision document for the city’s development in the next two decades, by December end.

The process has already been delayed due to the pandemic, as the land-owning agency had to extend the last date of submission of suggestions/objections by a month following demand from the public. While it received over 12,000 comments on its portal, officials said a large number of people submitted their comments manually.

Explaining the process, a senior official said based on the inputs received during the public hearing, MPD-2041 will be tabled again in the authority meeting and, once approved, it will be sent to the Union housing and urban affairs ministry for notification.

The MPD-2041 focuses on regeneration of old areas (unauthorised colonies, urbanised villages), allowing mixed-use development, providing affordable rental housing and small format housing, promoting walkability and non-motorised transport, development of green-blue (green spaces and waterfronts) infrastructure and corridors etc for sustainable development of the city.

The land-owning agency has also introduced new concepts and proposals to make Delhi a 24×7 city by promoting nighttime economy and nightlife; increasing economic activities; and ensuring planned development of urban extensions.