If the list is not updated, other water bodies and lakes may never be protected. The plan has also not demarcated groundwater recharge areas. Environmentalists and water experts have highlighted this "appalling" lapse in their submissions to the board, objecting to the draft regional plan which is going to be finalized shortly. In the draft plan, only two lakes in Delhi-Bhalswa and Najafgarh have been mentioned. The Sanjay Lake or other water bodies and ponds are not.

The NCRPB had called for objections to its draft plan and received about 65 replies from government departments, private companies and civil society which have been uploaded on their website. Many environmentalists raised concerns about the removal of a "0.5% limit" on constructions in natural conservation zones, which would mean the check on real-estate development would be removed. After several people wrote to the board, they decided to maintain restriction on construction.

However, organizations like Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage are now worried about how the draft plan completely neglects water bodies, forests and groundwater recharge zones like the Aravalis. "After we submitted our objection, I called the board several times but they were tight-lipped. I am not sure if they have considered these objections at all," said Manu Bhatnagar of the Natural Heritage Division of Intach.

"The plan has not mandated firm steps to demarcate water bodies and their catchments which are prime targets of realtors. Groundwater recharge areas have also not been demarcated," Intach's submission said. It also highlighted that floodplains have not been demarcated in "regional land use".

"This cannot be left to the discretion of local planners and administrators" it said.

Another error identified by Intach is the size of Najafgarh Jheel, which is 15.4 ha according to the draft plan, but is actually about 700 ha. "We can't afford to lose a single water body. With the price of land increasing in NCR, water bodies are most vulnerable. They are crucial to support the kind of development we expect in the coming years. Water bodies have to be maintained along with buffer areas and catchments," he added.

The submission also says there that in the chapter on disaster management in the draft plan, there is no mention of drought events in the draft plan. "In 1987 and 2002 there was highly deficient rainfall. Due to climate change, this can happen again. How will the region manage?"

Bhatnagar said the board is increasingly becoming toothless. "NCRPB has been reluctant to exercise its power, instead it is abdicating them to the sub-regional planners who are driven by the sky-rocketing value of land," Bhatnagar added.