Khattar proposes NCR taxi permit

New Delhi: Suggesting a way out to improve seamless transport across the national capital region, Haryana on Wednesday pushed for a uniform regime for taxi operation through single registration and issue of permits.
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the home state could register these taxis and grant them permits valid for the entire NCR after charging a centralised fee on an annual basis.Khattar was speaking at the NCR Planning Board meeting where a host of decisions were taken to improve connectivity across the region, including taking up the construction of three rapid rail (RRTS) corridors immediately.
Since the participating states have already resolved the alignment issue, work on the Delhi-Alwar, Delhi-Panipat and Delhi-Meerut corridors can be started immediately, a statement issued by the urban development ministry said. “All participating states were directed to resolve the inter-state connectivity issues at the earliest, which will help in decongestion of roads leading to Delhi from the rest of NCR.”
The board, chaired by Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu, decided that the NCR states would prepare the sub-regional plans for newly included districts within three months and 100% funding would be provided by the board for this.
The board also decided to reduce the interest rate on the loan that NCRPB provides to the state governments from 7.5% to 7% for priority sectors and cut rates for land development projects from 9.25% to 8.50%. The board also decided to increase loan repayment tenure from 10 to 20 years for the rail-based projects.
However, no decision was taken on the sensitive natural conservation zone (NCZ).
In the meeting, Khattar said Delhi’s drawing of water from Haryana was resulting in reduction of its water share from the Yamuna.