Even as Delhi seethes with confusion and anger over the sealing of unauthorised commercial establishments, a seemingly small but ticklish and persistent tug of war has emerged once again between the governments of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, two of the four states forming the National Capital Region (NCR). The two are not allowing each other’s commercial transport vehicles into their territories, in the manner of two feudal lords clashing over terrain. The issues may appear relatively insignificant, but it needs to be debated in the context of plans to organise urban centres in the NCR as counter-magnets to arrest the seamless and unplanned growth of Delhi.

Four questions beg immediate answers in this context. First, the concept of NCR — an innovative one for India in the early 1960s and replicable in other growing metropolises as well, was the baby of the Congress-led central government. Why then is the Congress-led central government remaining a silent spectator — despite the union ministry of urban development having a stake in whatever happens to urban Delhi — when a Congress-led Delhi government is engaged in an avoidable turf war? Second, Delhi has great stakes in the NCR currently, so why has it chosen confrontation over solutions to petty managerial questions like transport, which will make the NCR viable? Third, UP has set up Noida and Greater Noida at a site that will give it a vantage point in terms of connectivity to the Capital, the country and the world, so why has it not taken steps to strengthen this connectivity? Finally, an NCR Planning Board was set up in 1985 and it still exists. But what planning has it done in two decades to make the NCR a reality?

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