Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, chaired the inaugural conclave on “National Capital Region -2041” organized by the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB), on 11th November. The theme of the conclave was “Planning for Tomorrow’s Greatest Capital Region”. The Conclave had participation from all NCR participating States, concerned Ministries/Departments of Government of India, Knowledge Institutions, Industries, Housing Associations, Subject Experts, Field Officers from various districts, and other stakeholders.

D. S. Mishra said that the Regional Plan – 2041 should be a citizen-centric plan, with liveability as the hallmark, to ensure ease of living. He further said that only plans with crucial factors like economic ability and sustainability can succeed.

The Secretary asserted that Regional Plan would have a serious impact on the entire region as it would drive and decide the magnitude/ direction in which the development will take place in the region.  He said that the Regional Plan- 2041 would be “a plan of our dreams and aspiration set in a practical context and that it must be published before mid-2021”.

As part of the sessions, a multimedia presentation showing planning of global cities was followed by five technical sessions on various themes namely ‘Imagining the Future’, ‘Priorities of the States’, ‘Land Use, Allocation & Control’, ‘Harmonized Development’ and ‘Financial Structuring’. The technical sessions were chaired by Dr. Anna Roy, Senior Adviser, Niti Aayog, representatives of NCR, participating State Governments, Dr. S.K. Kulshreshta, Regional Planning Expert, Dr. Partha Mukhopadhyay from Centre for Policy Research, Vinay K. Singh, Managing Director, NCRTC. Prof. PSN Rao, Director, School of Planning & Architecture, Delhi presented the concluding remarks of the technical sessions.

Participants were also apprised about the facility for giving suggestions on preparation of Regional Plan-2041 through NCRPB’s website  www.ncrpb.nic.in