Indian towns and cities are witnessing unprecedented urban growth and to a large extent the real estate development taking place in the peripheral and suburban areas are contributing to the efforts of the development authorities and urban local bodies. But have you ever thought whether the large scale residential and commercial development under the umbrella of real estate development is properly and timely regulated through the various development controls and norms prepared by the urban local bodies. There are many towns in India where there is no such regulatory and guiding document like master plan for such purposes and hence arises the need for having a comprehensive national real estate development control and regulation.

This can be entrusted to the ministry of urban development of the Government of India and various states who are capable enough to devise such comprehensive document to guide the real estate development. Devising a comprehensive guiding and regulatory document is not enough but there is a need for capable urban and rural local bodies who are empowered to act in the matters of urban development taking place in areas under their jurisdiction.

It has been often in news that many developers do not provide the services as mentioned in the document alluding the purchasers. Thus, there is need for such a monitoring and regulatory bodies in each state and their subordinate offices in the urban local bodies.

The real estate development should be channelised in such a way that they contribute to a healthy growth and development of the urban fabric. And this can be done by proper and timely regulation like compulsory development charges to the Urban Local Bodies for extension and augmentation of the social and physical infrastructure.

The recent announcement by the Chief Minister for regulariation of 917 unauthorised colonies of the National Capital Territory of Delhi is a serious blow to the planning and development control prevailing in the capital. This will have serious impacts on the working of the Delhi Development Authorities and other Urban Local Bodies like Municipal Corporation of Delhi which are engaged in ensuring planned

development of Delhi.

Delhi is fortunate enough to have a series of Master Plan to guide and control the development of the city. But it is also evident that the local bodies has grossly failed in controllling the unauthorised development in the notified areas lying on the fringes of the city.

The alarming number of the unauthorised colonies is a clear indication of the failure of development controlling and monitoring authorities.

The planning and development agencies failed to predict the inflow of the people in the national capital and failed to prepare itself for providing the housing in a planned way which resulted in the mushrooming of so many unauthorised and unregularised colonies. There are many ghost colonies in the capital which have got sactioned.

The time has come to respond to the need for regularising them but not in the manner as suggested by Chief Minister but in a more regulated and phased manner. This can be done through charging development charged from the residents of the ‘to be regularised colonies’ and also keeping in view the minimum requrement of proper land records and legal documents.

These unauthorised colonies grossly lack many social and physical infrastructure for healthy living conditions. Indiscriminated regularisation will lead to sluming of whole town as new unauthorised colonies will find a safer way out of the planning and development controls of the developing agencies.

Politicians should sit with policy planners and urban planners and decide the right course of action and avoid playing politics of vote bank and endengering the planning and development of the city. The planners can help in sorting out deficiency of social infrastructure through planning measures like cross subsidisation of the development and FAR accomodation to use the vacant plots for developing social infrastructures for the residents.

Jai Hind..!

Shashikant Nishant Sharma

post@edupediapublications.org

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