The Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre wants to include Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh in the National Capital Region (NCR) ?to facilitate infrastructure development in the area?.
The district has been in news since communal riots broke out there last year in which 63 people were killed and over 50,000 displaced.
Muzaffarnagar will get additional funds from the Centre for development as a metropolitan area around Delhi after being brought under the NCR.
The Centre has tasked Muzaffarnagar MP and MoS for Agriculture Sanjeev Balyan, with the responsibility to interact with the state government and pursue the matter.
Balyan, a BJP leader, is a named accused in the riots case and was lodged in jail for nearly 15 days.
Balyan, who was in Lucknow on Monday to support the party?s sit-in against law & order situation in UP, told The Indian Express that he has sent a letter to state Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan asking him to send a proposal for including Muzaffarnagar district in the NCR.
He also said that state government has called a meeting in this regard on September 10.
NCR includes districts from Haryana, Delhi, UP and Rajasthan. Meerut, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Bulandshahr, Hapur and Baghpat are the UP districts that fall under the NCR and the development plans there are approved by the NCR Planning Board, a body functioning under the Government of India.
Asked why only Muzaffarnagar, Balyan said, ?Because I am the MP from the place and it is my duty to make efforts for its development. Muzaffarnagar is only around 100 km away from Delhi and it should be included in the NCR for an integrated development.?
Once a district is included in the NCR, it get funds for development of services like sewerage system, water supply, advanced transport system and other infrastructure directly from the Centre. Industrial growth is also promoted in the NCR region.
Balyan also said that the Ministry of Agriculture has demanded 50-hectare in Muzaffarnagar from the Akhilesh Yadav government to develop a sugarcane research institute there.
?But no response has come yet,? he added.
