The Northern Railways formally applied to the Delhi Development Authority in December to change the land use for residential purposes. Meant for senior railway officials, the proposed bungalows would be violating the present land use rule. As per the Delhi Master Plan 2001 no construction is allowed in the environmentally protected Ridge area where the Northern Railways has its 44,132 sqm on San Martin Marg. Now the entire land is to be used for the residential purposes.

However, the jurisdiction of the Delhi Master Plan 2001 which is the capital's land-use rule-book will not last long. The work on the second Delhi Master Plan is already on. And that's exactly where the Northern Railways and its partner in the deal, Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) expect to get the concession.

The Delhi Master Plan 2021 is being worked out by the Delhi Development Authority which comes under the Union Urban Development Ministry. But the Delhi Government has a say in it. The Northern Railways and DMRC, of course, are trying to get the Union Ministry and the Delhi Government to jointly ratify their proposal.

The Northern Railways have agreed, as reported by Express Newsline, to barter a piece of prime land in Boulevard Road to DMRC's Tis Hazari Mass Rapid Transport System Station.

``It is difficult to execute a urban project of this scale. Problems like this would crop up, but these are micro issues. If we are to keep the tight schedule we need cooperation. The MRTS project has to be seen from a wider perspective,'' said Anuj Dayal, Chief PRO, DMRC.

DMRC made a change in its original plan to build the Tis Hazari MRTS station on the land where the Northern Railways owns 14 exquisite bungalows built in the first decade of this century by a British architect. In the original plan drawn up in April '97, the MRTS station was supposed to come up on the land housing the Tis Hazari lawyers' chambers.

``As both the Union and State Governments are involved in the DMRC's MRTS project, it was lot more easier to acquire land from a government agency rather than plead the private party which owns the Tis Hazari land,'' a senior Delhi Government official associated with the project said.

However, the DDA Commissioner, Land Disposal, Sharada Prasad was quite categorical, ``The land around this area comes under the Delhi Ridge Management Board which is an autonomous body. Neither the Delhi Chief Minister nor the DDA (Urban Development Ministry) has the power to suggest any change in land-use of this area''.