[3] As well as the cities and towns, the NCR contains ecologically sensitive areas like the Aravalli ridge, forests, wildlife and bird sanctuaries.

That plan defined the DMA as comprising the National Capital Territory and the ring towns of Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Ballabhgarh, Gurgaon, Bahadurgarh and Loni, also certain rural areas, which had a population of the somewhat less than 2.1 million in 1951.

[10] The following "Master Plan for Delhi", approved in August 1990, added Noida, Bahadurgarh and the then-proposed township of Kundli to the DMA, which consequently covered an area of 3,182 km2.

[16] On 9 June 2015, the Government of India approved the inclusion of three more districts in NCR – Jind, Panipat, Karnal in the state of Haryana and Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.

On 9 January 2018, the government of Uttar Pradesh formally proposed the extension of the NCR to cover the districts Aligarh, Bijnor, Hathras and Mathura.

[27] The areas and populations (per 2011 census, prior to the addition of Muzaffarnagar, Jind, Karnal and Shamli) of these component districts are set out below:[2][3]: 3, 6

[29] Topics covered by the 2001 plan included transport, telecommunications, power and water supply, waste and sewerage, education, health, the environment, housing and the "counter magnet" areas.

The 2021 plan extended these with the additional topics of social infrastructure, heritage, tourism, rural development, and disaster management.

The 51% of pollution in NCR is caused by the industrial pollution, 27% by vehicles and 8% by crop burning, consequently there are plans to create a 1,600 km long and 5 km wide The Great Green Wall of Aravalli green ecological corridor along Aravalli range from Gujarat to Delhi to be connected to Sivalik hill range with the planting of 1.35 billion (135 crore) new native trees over 10 years.

In fact, 6 high courts (Shimla, Delhi, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Nainital, Jammu) from other states are closer than Allahabad from western Uttar Pradesh.

It is an 82.15 km (51.05 mi) long, semi-high speed rail corridor which will be India's first Regional Rapid Transit System currently under construction.

[35] Ashok Agarwal, national president, Indian Industries Association (IIA), said “We have also received queries related to the allotment of land along the Ganga Expressway from investors.

It is also proposed in Regional Plan 2041, Delhi NCR that all railway lines in NCR should be 4 tracks by 2030 and 06 tracks by 2040, 100% electrified, broad gauge and of high speed, with latest safety systems, Train Autonomous Cicrumambutation System (TACS), Centralised Traffic Control (CTC), etc.

[28]: 121  The criteria for selecting counter magnet towns are: that they should have their own established roots and potential of growth,[28]: 121  and should not be centres of either religious, strategic or environmental importance.

[citation needed] The counter magnet cities should be given priority when allocating funding for development of land, housing and infrastructure.