Mohali: Nayagaon master plan withdrawn

In a decision that has put a big question mark on the above board functioning of the Akali-led government in Punjab, the Department of Town and Country Planning is learnt to have withdrawn its public notice regarding the proposed master plan of the Nayagaon notified area committee (NAC).

The public notice was issued in leading newspapers exactly a month ago by the chief town planner when the master plan for the NAC was made public to invite objections. However, in an "emergent" decision taken this evening, the chief town planner was reportedly asked to rescind his earlier orders.

While this means that the entire process of inviting objections (the last date of which was today) has gone waste, the absence of a masterplan is likely to lead to the revocation of the notification issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development exempting the NAC area from provisions of the Punjab Capital Periphery Control Act.

This means that the status of the Nayagaon NAC is back to square one. It continues to be powerless to allow construction in the area. It has once again no powers to approve individual building plans and approve group housing projects. Construction in the area, which is not in accordance with the periphery policy, is once again illegal.

While no government officer is ready to divulge the reason for this sudden turnaround, sources point to a myriad of causes. The creators of the master plan had, for example, demarcated a large area of Kansal village as "institutional", a part of which is owned by VIPs. Highly placed sources state parleys at the highest echelons were on to undo the "damage that the master plan had caused".

Another reason was the growing difference of opinion between the Department of Local Government and the Department of Housing and Urban Development over the Nayagaon NAC. While the housing department was following a cautionary approach to the opening of the Chandigarh's periphery following all relevant regulation laid down for the area, the local bodies department had strongly objected to the conditions laid down in the master plan. They were not happy that a large part of the NAC area (villages Karoran and Nadah) were not opened for development on the pretext that these areas are locked under the provisions of the Punjab Land Preservation Act 1900 (PLPA).

The department of local government also pointed out that there was no provision in the urban acts to get a "part regional plan" prepared. While the chief town planner's office seems to have been caught on the wrong foot on this technical point, its insistence on the NAC following the Forest Acts is not without good reason.

The issue of the PLPA has been a matter of controversy ever since the Akali-led government took over. The Akali government, for reasons best known to the powers that be, is almost desperate to get the PLPA repealed. The saving factor has, however, been the fact that a decision regarding the delisting of this area from the PLPA is pending before the Supreme Court. 

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