Haryana seeks one-third reduction of area under National Capital Region

He said, “More than benefits, the state is facing losses due to an excessive area under NCR.” Khattar also announced that the NCRPB “in principle” has accepted Haryana’s request.

Whether the number of districts, currently under NCR, will also reduce after the proposed reduction, Khattar said, “The number of districts may not reduce, except for one or two.”

For instance, entire Karnal is covered under NCR but if this reduction is effected, only Gharaunda tehsil shall be covered under NCR and the rest of the district shall be out of bounds of the NCR.

Khattar added that he shall be taking up the matter with the Union Minister of State, Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri in the NCRPB’s next meeting scheduled Tuesday.

NCR currently covers 14 out of a total of 22 districts of Haryana, spread over an area of 25,327 square kilometre. The National Capital Territory of Delhi accounts for 2.69 per cent in the NCR, while Haryana has the largest share of 45.98 per cent in the NCR, while Uttar Pradesh has 26.92 per cent (eight districts) and Rajasthan has 24.41 per cent (two districts).

Explaining the rationale why Haryana is seeking a reduction of its share in the NCR, Khattar said, “The area under NCR was expanded to reduce the urbanisation burden on the national capital of Delhi. Thus, it was decided to develop the adjoining areas also with parallel facilities, infrastructure and other amenities. The area kept on exceeding. However, with that expansion, certain ill-effects were also being noticed.”

He further added, “For instance, when NGT imposes restrictions – be it to curb pollution, or other infrastructural curbs, the entire portion (roughly 57 per cent of Haryana) also gets affected with those restrictions. With reduction in the area under NCR, at least a large proportion of such areas shall be free from such restrictions.”

According to the state government officials, the Haryana government had first proposed this reduction in July, last year. The government had also submitted a proposal for a revised delineation of the NCR for the planning board’s approval. As per the government’s draft proposal, it has said that the extent of Haryana sub-region should be 8,281.60 square km against the current area of 25,327 square km.

The officials added that inclusion of far-flung districts like Bhiwani, Mahendragarh, Jind, Karnal and Charkhi Dadri were not serving any purpose in terms of reducing the urbanisation burden on Delhi.

Officials told The Indian Express that Khattar, in September last year, had also taken up the matter with Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, requesting him to allow implementation of pollution-control norms in specific-districts rather than imposing it in the entire NCR. Khattar had also pointed out various difficulties in implementing such provisions in the entire area of the state, which is currently covered under the NCR.

“The Chief Minister had suggested that such pollution control norms should be implemented within a 10-km radius of the National Capital Territory of Delhi or within the 10-km radius of cities that have a population over 10 lakh,” a senior officer said.

Currently, 14 districts of Haryana are covered under NCR. These include, Karnal, Jind, Mahendragarh, Bhiwani, Palwal, Charkhi Dadri, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Jhajjar, Rewari, Sonipat, Panipat, Rohtak and Nuh.