The National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) meeting on Tuesday gave Ambala a renewed strategic role in the region’s long-term development plan by reaffirming its status as a Counter Magnet Area (CMA), envisioned as an alternative growth hub to ease pressure on Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).
The NCRPB is looking beyond the traditional NCR growth centres by strengthening a network of Counter Magnet Areas that can attract investment, employment and population, thereby reducing migration towards the heavily congested NCR core.
Ambala figures prominently among these identified Counter Magnet Areas, placing the city at the centre of a broader regional strategy to promote balanced urbanisation across north India.
Replying to a question from this correspondent on Ambala’s role, Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who chaired the meeting, said, “Counter Magnet Areas are intended to emerge as alternative centres of development capable of attracting investment, employment and population growth that would otherwise gravitate towards Delhi and adjoining NCR districts.”
Officials said the objective is to develop multiple growth centres connected through improved regional transport networks, enabling economic activity to spread more evenly instead of remaining concentrated around Delhi.
The renewed focus on Ambala also aligns with ongoing plans to strengthen regional mobility, including expansion of high-capacity transport infrastructure and the proposed extension of the Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) into Haryana.
For Haryana, Tuesday’s meeting delivered a twin advantage. Besides retaining all its existing NCR districts within the regional planning framework, the state is expected to benefit from greater investment attention for cities such as Ambala, which are poised to play a larger role in the NCR’s future growth architecture.
