NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has asked the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for its plans for the land left after 25 of 397 hectares are given to chemical industries at the Integrated Freight Corridor (IFC) in Narela here.
The court observed that around 397 hectares of land was earmarked for the IFC of which 25 hectares was for the chemical industries, but the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has not disclosed what has happened or will happen to the remaining area.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said tax payers money has been used to acquire the land and therefore, some unauthorised colony should not be allowed to come up there.
It directed the DDA to file a status report before May 21, the next date of hearing, regarding the allotment and development activity on the remaining land as well as the proposed guidelines if development has not taken place.
While issuing the direction, the bench observed that according to the modified layout of the IFC at Narela, the remaining land was to be used for setting up a district centre, commercial areas, a transportation hub, public utilities, recreational facilities and other infrastructure like a police station as well as petrol and CNG pumps.
The purpose of the IFC is to act as a centre for off-loading and picking up wholesale goods by road and rail from and to other states to decongest the national capital
The court had earlier pulled up the DDA and the municipal corporation of north Delhi for not ensuring that traders from the walled city shift to the IFC at Narela, even after plots have been alloted for the purpose.
The court was hearing a plea by an NGO, Society for Awareness and Development, seeking shifting of the wholesale markets from the walled city to the IFC.
Source: Press Trust of India