2013.10.17 mgd letter to mo ef request to examine rp 2021

Reg No: DR/GGN/291 of 2010-11

A people’s movement for good

governance

® mission

GURGAON D E V E L O P M E N T

543 Sector 23, Gurgaon; Tel: 9312404269, 9818768349, 9871628217; E-mail: [email protected]

Governing Council: Vinay Shankar, Patron, Former Secretary, Govt of India Devinder Chopra, Patron, UN retiree Maj Gen Satbir Singh, SM,

President, Vice Chairman IESM Dr Nalini Bhargava, Vice President, Educationist Dr Bhawani Shankar Tripathy, General Secretary, Development professional

Col Sarvadaman Oberoi, Treasurer, RTI activist Vakul Cowshik, Member, Social worker

www.missiongurgaondevelopment.org

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To: Dr V Rajagopalan, I.A.S.,

Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forest,

CGO Complex, Lodhi Road,

New Delhi 110003

17th

October 2013

Email ID : [email protected]

Fax : 91- 11-24362746

Telephone No. : 91- 11-24360721

Dear Sir,

Sub:Review by MoEF on Draft Revision of the Regional

Plan 2021, prepared by the NCR Planning Board, for

which public comments were due Aug 30th

2013.

1. The National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) is

currently undertaking an exercise of revising the Regional

Plan 2021, for which the public comment period ended on

August 30th 2013. We have grave concerns about the

dilution of environmental safeguards in this revision

process, as well as additional environmental gaps. These

dilutions and gaps will lead to loss of eco-sensitive areas in

the NCR, and damage the strategic ecological assets of the

NCR – especially the Aravalli ranges and river beds, and

irreversibly impact groundwater recharge capacity and

drinking water security, wildlife habitat and biodiversity,

and drastically reduce the natural adaptive capacity of the

NCR region to climate change impacts. Accordingly we

request MOEF to examine the current Regional Plan 2021,

the Revised Draft Regional Plan 2021 at a priority basis,

and provide their inputs from a technical and statutory

perspective. The details are as follows.

mailto:[email protected]



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The Regional Plan

2. The Regional Plan 2021 is prepared basis the statutory

mandate of the NCRPB Act, 1985.

a. The objective of the Regional Plan is to control land-

uses, avoid haphazard development and promote

balanced growth and development in the NCR.

b. Chapter IV, Section 10, sub-section 2, of the National

Capital Region Planning Board Act, 1985, states that,

“The Regional Plan shall indicate the manner in

which the land in the National Capital Region shall

be used, whether by carrying out development

thereon or by conservation or otherwise” (emphasis

added).

3. It is thus, clear, that the Regional Plan is a very important

instrument in deciding on lands that need to be conserved,

through control of landuse and determining the zoning and

policy proposals for ensuring conservation of eco-sensitive

areas such as the Aravalli ranges, Yamuna and other river

flood plains, and allocating land for forests etc.

4. Indeed, the Regional Plan 2021 provides for a Natural

Conservation Zone which covers the Aravalli Range in the

NCR, river beds and flood plans, etc, and this Natural

Conservation Zone has a limit on construction of 0.5%, that

effectively zones this area for conservation and precludes

construction.




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5. The NCRPB is currently finalising a revision of the

Regional Plan 2021. Accordingly, the NCRPB had prepared

a Revised Draft Regional Plan 2021 which was put out for

public comment by August 30, 2013- it is now engaged in

the process of compiling the comments and objections from

various quarters for a final review prior to notification.

The Regional Plan 2021 revised draft - dilutions and gaps

6. Based on a comparison of the currently in-force Regional

Plan 2021 with the proposed revised draft of the Regional

Plan 2021, we find that there are serious gaps and omissions

in the Regional Plan 2021 with respect to the conservation

of Aravalli hills, other environmentally sensitive areas, and

other environmental matters. What is worse is that the

limited environmental safeguards in the current Regional

Plan 2021, are being further sought to be diluted and/or

removed, in the Revised Draft Regional Plan 2021.

7. Having inspected the relevant files of the NCRPB, under

the RTI Act, 2005, we find that without verifiable inputs

from any traceable competent authority / technical experts

at the Centre/States or from Research groups/ NGOs/

Academics, key safeguards for environmental/biodiversity

protection have been diluted or/and removed.

8. The Revised Draft Regional Plan 2021 is littered with small

and large changes. As the NCRPB has not provided any

summary listing of the proposed changes, any review would




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ideally require a line by line comparative reading of the

current Regional Plan 2021, and the Revised Draft Regional

Plan 2021, to identify the deletions and additions.

9. For your convenience, we list here some of the Key

environmental safeguards in the current Regional Plan

2021, that are being diluted in the Revised Draft Regional

Plan 2021:

a. Deletion of restriction on construction of 0.5% in

the Natural Conservation Zone. (Chapter 17,

Section 17.5.3 of current RP 2021)

b. Removal of line that states, “No such activities

should be undertaken in the Aravalli range in

NCR.”, in section 14.2.(ix) of current RP 2021

which in effect extends Aravalli notification

(issued my MoEF on 7 May 1992), to Faridabad

and Delhi in Aravalli notification

c. Inclusion of development guidelines in

Conservation Plan provisions, that would in effect

allow real estate and other development through

the Conservation Plans.

d. Land Suitability Analysis is a key step in

identifying eco-sensitive areas for conservation

within urban areas. However the revision limits

Land Suitability Analysis to new towns, thus in

fact, gutting this requirement as most growth in




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the NCR is via expansion of existing towns, which

would now be excluded from this provision.

10. In addition, other environmental concerns and gaps with

respect to the Revised Draft Regional Plan 2021:

a. Decline of forest cover, yet no reservation of areas

for forest.

b. Forest cover diluted to green cover.

c. Flood risk – due to sand mining etc in river beds, but

no proposal for areas off limits to sand mining, and

other areas for sustainable sand mining in the river

beds and flood plains

d. Issue of drinking water security and carrying

capacity, and identification of Aravallis, as an

important groundwater recharge zone, as has been

asserted by the MoEF under oath in the Hon’ble

Supreme Court, in the MC Mehta case in 2008 (in

WPC 4677 of 1985).

e. The Hon’ble Supreme Court ordered a “ban on

mining activity and pumping of groundwater

imposed in an area upto 5 km from Delhi-Haryana

border on the Haryana side of ridge and Aravalli

hills.” (order dated 6.5.2002 in WPC 4677 of 1985).

The implication of this order is that no exploitation of

groundwater and digging of borewells can be

permitted in the 5 km zone from the Delhi border and




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falling in Haryana Aravalli hills. This needs to be

reflected in the Regional Plan 2021.

f. Wildlife Habitat and Corridors need to be

identified

g. Eco Sensitive zones in the buffer of Asola sanctuary

need to be identified both in Delhi and in the Haryana

side.

h. The Mangar Sacred grove and an essential buffer

need to be identified and zoned as a no-construction

zone.

i. Concerns regarding hazardous and solid waste

disposal in ground water recharge zones and eco-

sensitive areas.

11. Prima facie, these proposed changes will dilute the National

Conservation Zone provisions and open up recorded forests,

as well as yet to be identified deemed forests as per

dictionary meaning, qua Godavarman 12.12.96 & 06.07.11

judgments, in Southern Haryana and elsewhere, for non-

forest activities, in contravention of Section 2(ii) of the

Forest Conservation Act.

12. MoEF may also exercise its wide-ranging powers to restrict

activities under the Environment Protection Act, 1996

(specifically, Section 3(1) and 3(2) (v) of the EPA, 1986

and Rule 5 (3)(d) of the Rules, 1986.




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13. When small and large real estate projects covering mere

tens of hectares require Environmental Review and

Clearance under the Environmental Protection Act 1986, it

will be a travesty if a Regional Plan covering thousands of

square kilometers including highly ecosensitive zones such

as the Aravallis is permitted to be revised, with likely

massive negative impacts on the environmental

sustainability and carrying capacity of Delhi NCR, without

any environmental review and input from the MoEF.

14. This is a recipe for disaster and negates the principles of

sustainable development, the precautionary principle, inter-

generational equity, carrying capacity as well as the various

international protocols on biodiversity and green house gas

emissions that India has signed, i.e. Convention on

Biological Diversity ratified by India on 18.02.94,

Convention to Combat Desertification ratified by India on

17.12.96, Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete

the Ozone Layer acceded to by India on 03.03.03,

Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

ratified by India on 13.04.06, United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change ratified by India on

01.11.93, 26.08.02, & Decision 5/CP.17 at Conference of

the Parties on its seventeenth session, held in Durban from

28 November to 11 December 2011 which was attended by




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H.E. Ms. Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister of Environment and

Forests, India.

15. You are therefore requested to review these and other

aspects that are critical to the strategic environment

sustainability of the NCR region, to the NCRPB.

16. You are also requested to ask the NCRPB to keep its

revised draft Regional Plan 2021 on hold till it is reviewed

by the MoEF.

17. We will be happy to share our analysis with the MoEF and

request a personal hearing for the same. A copy of the

suggestions and objections filed with the NCRPB are

attached for your reference (Annex 1).

For Mission Gurgaon Development

Lt Col (Retd) Sarvadaman Singh Oberoi

Treasurer

About Mission Gurgaon Development

Mission Gurgaon Development (MGD) is a people’s movement

launched by the residents of Gurgaon against inadequacies in

governance and resultant poor development in Gurgaon. Our

vision is to ensure that Gurgaon becomes an epitome of urban

living, affording a nurturing quality of life to its empowered citizens.

The goal is to usher in reforms in local governance, through

implementation of the 73rd/74th Constitutional Amendment Act.

MGD is the first and only think-tank in Gurgaon that works for and

advocates for systemic changes in governance based on

decentralization, accountability, transparency, and participation of

citizens in governance decisions.


2013.10.17 mgd letter to mo ef request to examine rp 2021

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Transcript of 2013.10.17 mgd letter to mo ef request to examine rp 2021