The 40^th meeting of the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) was held todayvia Video Conferencing.  The meeting was chaired by the Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas, and attended by Shri ManoharLalKhattar, Chief Minister of Haryana;ShriSidharthNath Singh, Minister of Khadi& Gram Udyog, Kapda, MSME and NRI Deptt., Uttar Pradesh; Shri Shanti Kumar Dhariwal, Minister of Urban Development, Rajasthan; Shri Satyender Jain, Minister of Urban Development, Govt. of NCT Delhi.  Besides, Secretary (HUA), Govt. of India, the Chief Secretary, Govt. of Haryana; Member Secretary, NCRPB and other senior officers of the Central Govt., and NCR participating States also attended the meeting.

Speaking in the meeting, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Chairman, NCRPBsaid that the NCR Planning Board,which is a unique example of inter-state and inter-agency coordination and regional development in the country, has done a commendable job over the years. He cited the progressive outcomes of regional planningin terms of Eastern & Western Peripheral Expressways, RRTS corridors of Delhi-Meerut and Delhi-Gurugram-SNB Complex and said that the increasing urbanization levels in NCR calls for special attention to address its needs and challenges.Accordingly, the Union Minister requested the NCR participating States to adopt and implement the recommendations of the NCRPB’s Plans and make use of its funding window available at very attractive rates for the purpose, which will help in achieving accelerated growth and development of all sectors in NCR.

Shri Puri said that all of us shall work closely together in visualising and building a Future Ready  National Capital Region of new vibrant India, the rising global super power, with citizen centric infrastructure which is harmonious, environment friendly, smart-digital technology driven, towards building an economically prosperous region, in tune with attainment of SDGs.

With the efforts of NCR Planning Board the Combined Reciprocal Common Transport Agreement (CRCTA) for Stage Carriage & Contract Carriage, among Governments of Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, were signed for seamless movement of passenger vehicles in the NCR. The same was launched today by Chairman, NCRPB.There will be single point taxation for all motor cabs/Taxis/Auto rickshaw; all stage carriage buses, all State Transport Undertakings (STUs) of NCR, including city bus services.This will encourage shift of traffic from private vehicles to mass public transport vehicles and will help in to ease traffic congestion and reduce air pollution.

With optimum utilization of Remote Sensing and GIS technology, a web Geo-Portal for NCR developed by NIC for NCR Planning Board was launched today in the 40th meeting of the Board. This Geo-Portal covers details of various sectors like Land Use, Transport, Industries, Water, Power, Health, Shelter, Heritage & Tourism, Disaster Management, etc. presented as Line, Point & Polygon features.The Geo-Portal for NCR, as a robust central database repository, has been developed with up-to-the mark User Interface, Access Control and Dynamic functionalities, etc. It is expected to greatly benefit Sub-Regional and local planning in NCR.

The Draft Regional Plan-2041 was discussed wherein Chairman had a view that the DRP-2041 needs to be put in public domain for feedback and comments at the earliest so that the Plan is finalized soon. Chairman asked States to submit their comments which will be taken up in next meeting of NCRPB. The Chairman also directed to convene Board Meeting to discuss Draft Regional Plan-2041 exclusively soon.

            The Board appreciated efforts of Government of Haryana regarding its initiative for Hisar Aviation Hub and Govt. of UP for its International Airport at Jewar, as also proposed in Draft Regional Plan-2041. Itapproved the Sub-Regional Plans for Delhi and U.P. with caveats and discussed the progress of work related to Delineation of NCR. It was also noted that NCR will have to cater to about 11 crore population by 2041 and States and Central departments need to gear up for the challenge and take advantage of the Regional Plan being finalized by NCRPB.  Accordingly, NCR States were urged to keenly participate and work closely together in visualising and building a future ready mega Capital Region.

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