Unplanned urban growth has always been a concern for all. The rate at which urbanisation is going on is quite faster than the rate at which infrastructure can expand.
It is therefore that the West Bengal Town and Country Plan Act was enacted in 1979. Under the Act, Planning Authorities can make LUDCP (Land Use Development and Control Plan) and developers and others must adhere to it. But the LUDCPs are often out of date and do not take into account newly urbanising areas. Consequently, investment on urban infrastructure is often ad hoc and chaotic.
To form a repository of data, knowledge and vision for the state as a whole, we have recently decided that a State Directorate of Urban Planning will be set up in due course.
A core group has been formed.
I hope a blueprint will be ready shortly.
The city of Kolkata is an example of unplanned/semiplanned development. In terms of urban infrastructure, from roads, to flyovers, to mass transportation to pedestrian freeways, everything appears hotch-potch here. The rate of population growth in terms of human beings as well as vehicles in the city has outpaced rapid urbanisation of KOLKATA. Can the city ever match in reality its "City of joy" tag, which to me is just an over exaggeration.
ReplyDeleteSure.
ReplyDeleteI do think we will be able to make a significant change if there is a will to do so: not just within the govt but all citizens as well.
I can give so many examples of completed projects (Millennium Park, EM By Pass, Swabhumi, Park Circus Fly Over..), on-going projects (East West Metro, Vivekananda Road Flyover, Ultadanga VIP Road Flyover...) and planned projects under JnNRUM etc.
But all cities (think of Mumbai, for example) have the problem of over-population. A union minister had once commented in a private conversation: tell me, why should people stay in the villages at all, without health-education-employment facilities?
So we must accept that we must keep on running: the destination will be nearer