NEW DELHI: NCR states Tuesday agreed to keep Natural Conservation Zone (NCZ) provisions intact in the Regional Plan 2041 and not touch Aravali, even as NCR Planning Board deferred finalisation of the plan by a couple of months.The board decided to set up a sub-committee, comprising senior officials from central and state governments, to look into new suggestions from board members.The panel will submit its final report by August 15. Union urban affairs minister Manohar Lal, who chaired the board’s meeting, told reporters that there are several suggestions from members and some issues need to be addressed. He, however, did not specify the issues.Responding to questions on Aravali and NCZ, he said that a very large area of Aravali and forest falls under NCR, and all stakeholders want the green cover to increase.He said there is always a concern regarding how much area should come under forest and how much under green cover. The minister said forest areas are recorded and the board cannot do anything as these fall under union environment ministry or there are court rulings.However, he said several suggestions have been given. “Sometimes there are restrictive things that cannot be followed… There are many decisions of NGT, Supreme Court, high courts and MoEF. There will be no violation of those decisions,” Lal said.TOI has learnt that some participants from Haryana claimed that Aravali in NCR is confined to Delhi, Gurgaon and Alwar as per a MoEF notification, suggesting that large tracts of Aravali in Faridabad won’t fall under NCZ.However, officials said provision of NCZ, including Aravali, in the Regional Plan would remain intact.UP and Rajasthan urban development ministers A K Sharma and Jhabar Singh Kharra said there was consensus on all agenda items, including NCZ. “There was no disagreement on any issue,” they said.Earlier, in response to a question whether any fresh survey of NCZ would be carried out considering that Haryana and Delhi are yet to delineate conservation zones, Lal said there will be no fresh surveys.He added sometimes it is not clear from satellite imagery whether a green area is forest or it just looks green. Lal said there are possibilities that a grassy area or “even if there are weeds in a pond, that will also look green”. The minister said that therefore, ground proofing has to be done.The board also decided to fast-track the implementation of “Parivartan Scheme” approved by the Union Cabinet for replacement of old bus and truck fleets (BS-I to BV-IV) with BS-VI or CNG, or electric in a time-bound manner to reduce vehicular pollution.“Under the new scheme, those who buy new vehicles by retiring old ones will get an incentive of approximately 30% of their value. This will be a voluntary scheme,” Lal said.
