The city Corporation seems to have learned its lessons from the public protests that it had to face for the issues in the previous draft master plan, which was scrapped.
The local body has decided to involve the public from all the hundred wards of the Corporation in the process to prepare the master plan.
Ward-level meetings will be held to create awareness among people, and to collect information and suggestions. Meetings will also be held with stakeholders from various sectors.
“In the case of the previous master plans, it was mostly an official exercise, without involving people. We had to face quite a few issues owing to this. This would essentially be a sensitisation programme, on the kind of developmental projects that are aimed at a specific area and on how the land will be used,” said a Corporation official.
In February 2014, the draft master plan 2031 was withdrawn following widespread complaints.
A seminar will also be held in the second week of January, in which stakeholders from various sectors will participate. Eighteen sectors, including industry, drinking water, waste management, environment, transportation, agriculture, animal husbandry, housing and slum, tourism, heritage, education, health, disaster management, energy, commerce, culture, and town planning, have been identified for this purpose. There will be special focus on women in the plan.
Delay
“We are planning a campaign similar to what we did ahead of the preparation of the Smart City proposal. There will be a dedicated website, mobile application, and a Facebook page for this purpose,” said the official.
The work on the master plan that began earlier this year, was supposed to have been finished by December, but delay in allocation of funds and non-availability of satellite images of the entire city led to delays.
