State governments on Tuesday signed an agreement launching the Combined Reciprocal Common Transport Agreement (CRCTA) to facilitate ease of movement for vehicles between the different cities of NCR

According to the plan there will be a single-point taxation system for taxis, autorickshaws and state-run buses in Delhi-NCR, with Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh signing an agreement for seamless movement of passenger vehicles in the region, a statement said.

However, the NCR Planning Board, which held its meeting on Tuesday, deferred its approval on the draft Regional Plan-2041 and asked NCR states to submit their comments about it in the next board meeting.

In the meeting, the NCRPB also launched a web geo-portal for NCR, which covers information of various sectors like land use, transport, industries, water, power, health, shelter, heritage and tourism, disaster management, etc. presented as Line, Point and Polygon features. The board meeting also approved the sub-regional plans for Delhi and UP with caveats and discussed the progress of work related to delineation of NCR.

“All of us shall work closely together in visualising and building a future ready National Capital Region of new vibrant India with citizen centric infrastructure which is harmonious, environment friendly, smart-digital technology driven, towards building an economically prosperous region, in tune with attainment of SDGs,” Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said in a statement.

In the meeting, Puri launched the Combined Reciprocal Common Transport Agreement (CRCTA) for state carriage and contract carriage among governments of Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. This agreement will ensure seamless movement of passenger vehicles in the NCR.

“There will be single point taxation for all motor cabs/taxis/auto rickshaw; all stage carriage buses, all State Transport Undertakings (STUs) of NCR, including city bus services. This will encourage shift of traffic from private vehicles to mass public transport vehicles and will help to ease traffic congestion and reduce air pollution,” the NCRPB said in a statement.

A web geo-portal for NCR developed by NIC for NCR Planning Board was also launched in the 40th meeting of the board.  “The geo-portal for NCR, as a robust central database repository, has been developed with up-to-the mark User Interface, Access Control and Dynamic functionalities, etc. It is expected to greatly benefit sub-regional and local planning in NCR,” the statement said.

The meeting was chaired by Puri and attended by Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar, Minister of Khadi and Gram Udyog, Kapda, MSME and NRI Department Uttar Pradesh, Sidharth Nath Singh, Minister of Urban Development, Rajasthan, Shanti Kumar Dhariwal, Minister of Urban Development, Delhi Government Satyendar Jain along with other officials.

The Draft Regional Plan-2041 (DRP-2041) was also discussed in the meeting wherein the NCRPB Chairman had a view that the DRP-2041 needs to be put in public domain for feedback and comments at the earliest so that the plan is finalised soon, it said.

“The chairman asked the states to submit their comments which will be taken up in next meeting of NCRPB. The chairman also directed to convene the board meeting to discuss draft Regional Plan-2041 exclusively soon,” the statement said.

(Cover: Traffic jam at the DND toll plaza Photo: Getty)