Mr A K Jain, Commissioner (Planning), DDA

Sub: s.11A Public Notice No. K-13011/5/2000-DIB of 04.11.2004

Ref: My letter of 18/03/20051 (enclosed) and subsequent media reports

Dear Mr Jain,

As you would be aware Delhi Finance Minister’s budget speech mentions, under the heading Industries, IT Park at Shastri Park, self employment schemes, Bawana, Bhorgad and a new estate being “planned” for gems and jewellery. What Delhi Industries Minister told our Assembly – "while a survey of industrial units had been done, that had not classified the industries into polluting or non-polluting. In all... 20,588 units had been inspected and of them power and electricity supply of 2,742 had been disconnected while 488 had been sealed. ...over 800 units had been desealed", etc – was reported on 22/03/20052 (“MLAs corner their own Ministers”, The Hindu) and partly on 26/03/20053 (“Polluting units: Govt crackdown lacks bite”, Times of India).

Obviously, Delhi Government is again obfuscating polluting and non-conforming units, industrial and commercial (IT Park) use, and numbers, besides blowing hot and cold about its jurisdiction and responsibilities – on 19/03/20054 it was reported that in the matter of commercial misuse of industrial estates (to extent of 70 to 80 per cent in some cases), Delhi Government typically “tried to shift the blame to the Centre, as its counsel said that the NCT administration was helpless as it had no power over the police to enforce the law and the the DDA, the main agency controlling the land, was also under the Union Government” (“Centre, Delhi Govt. rapped over wrong use of industrial areas”, The Hindu), even as there was no “helplessness” about GNCTD’s industrial closure.

It is noteworthy that, as per the report of 19/03/2005, apropos commercialisation of industrial space, Supreme Court observed:

• “If you shut your eyes to this fact, then what is the purpose of earmarking an area for establishing the industries? On the other hand, industrial activities are being carried out in residential areas”.

It is now four years since I have pointed out the related larger obvious fact, viz, that the solution to the industries imbroglio cannot be found without releasing the 2000-3000 hectares of industrial space earmarked in well-dispersed locations in DMP-2001 and all else is diversionary obfuscation to unlawfully spare that space for misuse, with deleterious implications for city economy and, with the amount of misleading of public and courts that this has involved, also for governance.

Now the circle of misleading the courts appears to have closed – on 26/03/20055 has been reported Delhi Government’s approval for constitution, as per direction of Supreme Court Monitoring Committee, of Local Area Environment Committee to look into the hazardous waste problem in the city (“Environment panel finally gets Government's nod”, The Hindu). The 5-member Committee includes Mr Dunu Roy, who along with Mr KT Ravindran, was extensively quoted also in a December 2004 web article by Rakesh Kalshian, journalist who contributes also to Down To Earth. You would recall that Mr Roy, Mr Ravindran and Down To Earth led from the front the anti-Master-Plan media on the industries issue in 2000. Mr Ravindran and Ms Sunita Narain of DTE are also named in the list of members in DMP-2021.

While Delhi Government and like-minded empowered-experts prefer not to make any reference to Public Notices arising from the Supreme Court order for industries or for the DMP-2021 that they have considerably influenced, the facts do remain that (a) the issue of non-conforming industries is a land-use (and, thereby, city economy) issue (though the composition of the sub-group for industries for DMP-2021 does not reflect this), (b) the Public Notice process is a statutory process, and (c) constitutional responsibility for land use decisions and sanctity of Public Notice process vests in DDA. I reiterate my request for detailed reply to my s.11A responses to Public Notices in the industries matter.

Yours sincerely

Gita Dewan Verma, Planner 

• 1. Request for reply to s.11A response (18/03/2005)
  http://skel.architexturez.net/pst/555dbc74-996c-4215-8e40-36a2555d233f
• 2. MLAs corner their own Ministers
  By Our Staff Reporter

  NEW DELHI, MARCH 21. Internal rumblings in the Delhi Congress surfaced again today in the State Assembly as party MLAs repeatedly sought to corner the Ministers on various issues.

  Question Hour itself saw the Development Minister, Raj Kumar Chauhan, and the Industries Minister, Mangat Ram Singhal, coming under scathing criticism and ridicule from their own party members, who for once seemed to be in unison with the Opposition.

  First it was Mr Chauhan, who was targeted while he was answering questions posed by the Independent MLA from Badarpur, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri. As in reply to questions on the Delhi Rural Development Board, the Minister said in 2004-05 a sum of Rs 15 crores has been marked out for the development of villages and till February 28, a sum of Rs 6.95 crores had been spend, the MLA questioned why the amount of Rs 50 crores which had been earmarked under the Mini Master Plan for annual expenditure on the rural areas had been reduced to a mere Rs 2 crores and whether there was any plan to increase this amount.

  http://www.hindu.com/2005/03/22/stories/2005032206680400.htm (Retrieved 20th August, 2013)

• 3. Polluting units: Govt crackdown lacks bite
  TNN Mar 25, 2005, 11.02pm IST

  NEW DELHI : Despite a Supreme Court order Delhi government is going slow on the sealing of industries in non-conforming areas. The industries department has inspected only 20,588 units so far. Power and water connections have been cut for 2,742 and 488 units have been sealed.

  The information was given by industry minister Mangat Ram Singhal on Monday in the assembly session. There are no clear estimates of how many industries are existing at present. In 1981, there were 46,000 industrial units that have mushroomed to 1,29,363 according to the Economic Census of 1998. Between B and E category there are an estimated 25,000 industrial units.

  http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1062700.cms (Retrieved 20th August, 2013)

• 4. Centre, Delhi Govt. rapped over wrong use of industrial areas
  By Our Legal Correspondent
  
  NEW DELHI, MARCH 18. The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the Centre and the Delhi Government for being a silent spectator to commercial activities being extended to areas strictly earmarked for industries in the Capital.

  A Bench of Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari observed: "After spoiling the residential localities, they (corporate houses) are now grabbing the industrial areas like Okhla, Naraina and Wazirabad."

  Referring to the Centre and the Delhi Government, the Bench said, "You cannot lose sight of the fact that unauthorised activities are the main source of corruption in the city. Many of the industrial areas in Delhi are being used for commercial purposes like setting up of corporate offices, showrooms and eating joints, while the Government has just closed its eyes."

  http://www.hindu.com/2005/03/19/stories/2005031908820400.htm (Retrieved 20th August, 2013)

• 5. Environment panel finally gets Government's nod
  By Anjali Dhal Samanta

  NEW DELHI, MARCH 25. For all the rhetoric, environment does not seem to be a concern area for the Delhi Government. Though the Delhi Pollution Control Committee had been directed nearly four months ago to constitute a Local Area Environment Committee to look into the hazardous waste problem of the city, the committee was approved by the Delhi Government only a couple of days ago.

  Though the committee is meant to be in operation for only three months, surprisingly, the approval came in as late as this past Thursday, almost four months after the notification. While this delay reflects the Government's priority to the city's environment, it also spells trouble for the functioning of the committee.

  http://www.hindu.com/2005/03/26/stories/2005032614410300.htm (Retrieved 20th August, 2013)