Hidden hands blocking Nagpur devpt plans

clearly points to political motives behind the delay. It all started in 1966 with the implementation of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act. The Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) was required to submit a development plan of the city under the new enactment. The process was undertaken in a rather casual manner and the first development plan of the city came into effect on July 30, 1976. As per the enactment, the plan was needed to be revised every ten years to meet the changing developmental needs of a growing city. The process commenced smoothly with the NIT declaring that it was preparing a revised development plan in June 1983, well in time. The process of revision should have been completed in about one year and the plan should have been put before the State Government for revision.

The rot, however, set in almost immediately. The revision process had to be started with the appointment of a town planning officer, specially for this job. But the formal order of appointment of G H Mulik, the officer, was released only in January, 1984. It then took months for the setting up of a technical group and an advisory committee, and later a special unit of the Town Planning Department. In was only in 1987 that the actual process of revision started.

Following other procedures, including invitation of objections and suggestions from the public, the revised plan was finally submitted to the State Government for approval in October, 1990, that is, four years after the due date. It was at this time that politics came into play. The revised plan, envisaging tremendous growth of the city, suggested decongestion of the prime areas of the city – mainly Mahal, Sitabuldi and Dhantoli. The suggestions also included development of new business centres on the periphery of the city and sealing of FSI in these prime areas. This was to ensure that they remained proportionately decongested and the city developed in a balanced way. But this suggestion stirred a hornet’s nest, as the builders and architects’ lobby foresaw a huge loss if these areas were to be decongested. Strings were pulled and the revised plan was stayed by the State Government. The NIT was asked to modify the plan in 1993.

A new planning committee was constituted with Vijay Chikate, Executive Engineer of the NIT, as Member-Secretary and the whole lengthy process of revision started again. A ‘modified’ revised plan was opened to public objections in November, 1995 and was submitted for government approval in February, 1996. The delaying tactics, very apparently owing to the pressures of a particular lobby, continued. On January 7, 2000, the State Government came out with a partial sanction to the plan. However, it has again asked for further modifications in a substantial part of the plan, which means that the process has still not come to an end.

This partial approval has been termed as illegal by architects and town planners. To make matters worse, the NIT office, where maps and details regarding the development plan have been put up for public objections, is a picture of total chaos. The maps are made in such a fashion that it is practically impossible for even the experts, let alone a layman, to understand the details.