Leading lights of the ongoing Delhi Master Plan-2021 review led by Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna and Delhi Urban Arts Commission chairman Raj Rewal discussed and debated the implications and suggestions to be incorporated in the finalised plan at a workshop here on Monday.

Other prominent speakers at the workshop include Union Urban Development Secretary Sudhir Krishna, DDA Vice-Chairman S. K. Srivastava and DDA Commissioner (Planning) S. P. Bansal.

“Acquire illegal farmhouses for social infrastructure; use sick industrial plots for residential development”

The Delhi Development Authority on Monday completed a significant milestone in its ongoing review of the Delhi Master Plan-2021. Four technical committees engaged in reviewing four broad areas of the Master Plan came up with presentations on the work done so far and an audience of top public servants, town planners, urban designers and architects offered their views on the broad ideas that the improved Master Plan seeks to incorporate.

‘Cabinet note being prepared for circulation to all stakeholders for starting work’

If the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) sources are to be believed, a high-speed corridor connecting all the important towns/areas of NCR can be a reality in future. The high-speed corridors are aimed at improving the connectivity to facilitating better commuting in the region. The NCRPB had prepared a functional plan last year for creating a transport system for NCR-2032. The plan recommended eight regional rapid transit system (RRTS) corridors to connect various towns/areas of NCR, of which the Centre prioritised three corridors for implementation in consultation with the State governments.

The Delhi Cabinet on Monday decided to provide to 3.56 lakh poor families covered under the recently-launched Kerosene-Free Dilli Scheme three more LPG cylinders per annum at subsidised rates to soften the blow of the Centre’s recent decision to limit the subsidy on domestic cooking gas to just six cylinders per year.

The Delhi Government has decided to release the Rs.350 per cylinder difference between the price of a non-subsidised and subsidised cylinder in Delhi to meet this social obligation. The Government would thus be spending Rs.42 crore per annum to meet the additional cost of the three cylinders for the beneficiaries of the scheme.

Dismissing a bunch of petitions by auto-rickshaw owners, the Delhi High Court on Monday gave the green signal for installation of Global Positioning System (GPS) and printers in auto-rickshaws for tracking their movement and providing print-outs of fares for distances travelled to passengers to provide secure and transparent travel to them in the Capital.

A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice A. K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw also justified the recovery of Rs.7, 500 from the auto-rickshaw operators for installation of the two equipment, saying that they would be able to collect it from passengers by levying 50 paise per km on them as allowed by the Government.

The Delhi government gave some relief to the people living below poverty line from the Centre’s decision of curtailing number of subsidised LPG cylinder. The city government on Monday decided to provide nine subsidised LPG cylinders instead of six to the BPL people of the city.

The decision was taken in a Cabinet meeting presided by Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit. Around 3.5 lakh beneficiaries who are under the government’s scheme of “kerosene free Delhi” can avail nine subsidised cylinders in one year. “Our government is committed to safeguarding the interests of common man. It has once again taken a significant decision to provide relief to the poor families by mitigating the effects of inflation as far as cooking gas is concerned,” Ms Dikshit told reporters here.

Global positioning systems will now be part of all auto-rickshaws in the city as the Delhi high court on Monday upheld the government’s notification for installation of GPS in auto-rickshaws. A bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice R.S. Endlaw rejected the plea of the auto drivers’ association against GPS installation, saying the same is in line with the global trend.

Dismissing the plea that the State Transport Authority (STA) was not empowered to issue the notification for GPS installation, the bench said, “We don’t see anything wrong in requiring the auto rickshaws to be GPS/GPRS and printer fitted. The same is in consonance with what is happening in the rest of the world.

More and more of the capital’s best known monuments may now be illuminated through solar energy.

Building on the experience gained over the last three years and keen on promoting the use of environment—friendly solar energy, the Delhi government plans to light up more of the capital’s historical sites through cheap and plentiful energy from the sun. The 13th century Qutub Minar, the 17th century red sandstone Red Fort and the 16th century Humayun’s Tomb — all declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites — are among the six sites where the Delhi government plans to install solar power plants to replace conventional sources of electricity.

Contractors will provide maintenance for five years

The Public Works Department of the Delhi Government has got estimates sanctioned for 60 road projects worth Rs.520 crore and of these works for 20 have also been awarded and are scheduled to begin next month. PWD Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan said on Friday that the Department had got 674 roads of over 60 feet width from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and has drawn up plans for completely redeveloping them by end of March 2014.

Taking a giant leap forward towards protecting the environment, the Delhi Government has imposed a blanket ban on manufacture, sale, storage and use of plastic bags in the city. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Delhi Cabinet on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said: “After considering the adverse effects of plastic carry bags on the environment, we decided to ban them. It has also been observed that plastic bags cause blockage of gutters, drains and sewerage system, thereby resulting in serious environmental and public health-related problems”.