Nayagaon Master Plan gets the nod

The Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Board has approved in-principle the draft Master Plan of Nayagaon-2021.

The Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Board has approved in-principle the draft Master Plan of Nayagaon-2021. The decision taken on Tuesday is likely to benefit a population of more than 50,000, expected in the periphery of Chandigarh by 2011.

At a meeting chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in Chandigarh, the board gave its final nod to planned growth and development in Nayagaon, as envisaged in the master plan prepared by the Local Government department, a senior official told Newsline.

With this, the growth in Chandigarh8217;s periphery coming under Punjab will be regulated for the first time to take care of the present and future population of Nayagaon.

The master plan will be, however, implemented only in Kansal. Nada and Karoran, which are also parts of the Nayagaon municipal area, are locked under forest and land preservation laws that restrict any development work. To bring the two villages under the purview of the master plan, the Punjab government will approach the Union government and the Supreme Court, seeking to de-list the villages from the list of 8220;forestlands8221;. It will seek advice from the Punjab Advocate General before sending a representation to the Centre and the apex court.

To solve the problem of poor road link, the Punjab CM has requested the Chandigarh Administrator, who is also the Punjab Governor, to allow a road link to Nayagaon through Khuda Ali Sher in Chandigarh, as proposed in the master plan.

The board has decided to allow the height of buildings within 1-km radius of Chandigarh, which is a 8220;mirror-image area8221; of the Capitol Complex, in accordance with the existing permissible height controls in Sector 1 to 6 of Chandigarh. Outside the 1-km radius, the official said, the permissible height would be unrestricted as per the notification of the Punjab Housing and Urban Development department issued in September 2007.

The board decided to act in a similar pattern as Chandigarh and Haryana which developed Manimajra, Panchkula and Saketri. Officials expressed great concern over the 8220;laxity8221; on part of the Housing and Urban Development department in allowing the mushrooming unplanned growth in Nayagaon, Zirakpur, Mohali and Kharar, the official added.

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The master plan had admitted that unauthorised expansion had consumed almost 80 per cent area of Karoran, 60 per cent of Kansal and 20 per cent of Nada villages, where top politicians and senior bureaucrats own major land parcels.

Expressing helplessness to either regularise or remove the widespread encroachment/illegal constructions, the Local Government department had found limited land parcels available for future regulated development in Karoran and Kansal.

The Nayagaon nagar panchayat will now act against the illegal constructions violating the master plan.