In Lok Sabha today, Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda pressed upon the immediate need for a more sustainable planning model in Delhi as it is the second fastest growing city in the world when it comes to population.While opening the debate on behalf of the Congress and Supporting the ‘Bill for National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws,’ Deepender Hooda emphasized the need to have a unified master plan for the NCR region to enable uniform development across different NCR states and not develop one city in silo.“The NCR planning board should develop a unified master plan and the budget of the board should be increased from Rs. 100 Crore. I believe there should be a separate ministry for NCR and I have already given a private members bill in this regard,” said Hooda. He added that by 2030 the economy of NCR region will be 300 billion dollars.The Congress MP and party Whip in Lok Sabha shared that earlier in 2013, in the light of increasing traffic congestion and frequent accidents, he had proposed two roads to be built from Haryana to Delhi, one from Dwarka to Dhansa along Drain No 8 and the other an elevated corridor connecting Bahadurgarh to Piragarhi on NH 10, but since there wasn't one single authority who could take a decision upon this, this plan was not able to see the light of the day.
Also, taking up the issue of unauthorized colonies in Delhi, Hooda said that in 2011, the then UPA government had passed a bill to protects slum dwellers from punitive action by law agencies. Questioning the motive of the BJP government, Hooda asked why were bulldozers sent to Kusumpur Pahari in Vasant Vihar.The Congress MP warned the government that if this was ever repeated then the bulldozers would have to first go over the Congress MPs.He added that Congress supports the bill as it will continue to stop law agencies from taking punitive action against many unauthorized colonies and will also help relocate inhabitants of these colonies. He also said that farm houses, schools, hospitals and storage houses that have been built on agricultural land should also be regularized on priority.
Taking up the issue of poor, Hooda said that earlier UPA had passed Street Vendors Protection Bill, but that to date, the Rules haven’t been framed by the BJP government nor have they been notified. “This is a serious matter as it concerns the poor,” said Hooda.Expressing his support for the Bill, the Congress MP said the BJP has not changed anything in the bill from what UPA had proposed, except for the date