Dehra Dun to be extended; Greater Doon to come up

The Greater Doon project in which a new city was to be built within the Doon valley has been in cold storage for a long time. Now this project is slated to be revived again soon. The layout of this plan was drafted in 2003 but it was put on hold by Uttarakhand Government because of the controversial land acquisition process. The land acquisition process had come under fire from the opposition parties particularly from the BJPs Nitya Nand Swami at that time.

MDDA has decided to revive this plan and has been doing all the necessary ground work for it. The middle class and the lower middle class section of the society will be specially benefitted due to the Greater Doon project. The land owners giving their land in the land acquisition process will be entitled to own a house. Greater Doon will have residential colonies, commercial complexes and community centers for cultural activities. It will be like a brand new State Capital.

The Greater Doon was a dream project initiated by the then Chief Minister of Uttarakhand N.D. Tiwari who wanted to create it on the lines of Greater Noida. For this nearly 900 hectares of land was acquired adjoining Haridwar by-pass road towards Mussoorie. Through the land acquisition, the government wanted to set up Greater Doon pleading that Dehra Dun was becoming highly congested after it became the capital of Uttarakhand.

The land acquisition process came to a halt as a consensus could not be obtained between the land owners and MDDA. Another reason was the mounting pressure from the opposition parties due to which the Uttarakhand government annulled its notification for acquiring land for the purpose of the Greater Doon project.

The new Vice Chancellor of MDDA is once again working hard to revive this project. Extra care is being taken to avoid the difficulties faced during earlier land acquisition. The land acquisition model will work similar to that of the neighboring state of Haryana where there is an agreement between land owners and Government. The land owners will be entitled to a share in any profits that result out of such a Government project which can be in cash or kind.

The land which was spotted for the creation of Greater Doon in 2003 is no more vacant and has much construction now. MDDA will have to work hard to figure out the legality of all such constructions.

Now, it remains to be seen what policy the MDDA will adopt for the formation of Greater Doon.