Bengaluru: The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has yet again come under severe criticism by citizens’ groups, this time over its lack of opacity and public consultation for the process of drawing up the Revised Master Plan-2031. Citizens’ groups on Tuesday demanded that the BDA hold public consultations before finalising the vision document, which will play a crucial role in the city’s future. The vision document will form the basis of the RMP- 2031.
Given its significance, activists are asking that the BDA place the vision document for review before the Bangalore Metropolitan Planning Committee (BMPC) before drafting a plan. This comes in the backdrop of the #SteelFlyoverBeda protests, which has called into question the larger mobility vision that the government has for the city.
In a first step to draw up the plans, the BDA had approached a Netherlands-based consulting firm, Royal HaskoningDHV, which has submitted a vision document for the city after multiple surveys.
The actual process of drafting a master plan will begin soon after BDA approves this vision document. The development authority has now formed an in-house committee led by the BDA commissioner to review and approve the vision document. This move has been criticised by citizens.
“How can a private firm and a handful of bureaucrats draft and finalise a vision plan for the city? At least the vision document must come from within our agencies and the political setup. What the BDA is now doing is unacceptable. We demand the vision document be opened to democratic consultations,” said Sridhar Pabisetty, CEO, Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF).
The development authority has been maintaining that it is the Local Planning Authority and would submit the master plan for final ratification before the BMPC. However, citizen groups now demand that BMPC and public inputs need to be part of the process of drafting the plan rather than ratifying the draft after its all done.
NBF and Citizen Action Forum have jointly written to all the members of the BMPC calling upon them to intervene. “The review committee formed by BDA does not have a single member of the BMPC. There is an immediate course correction that is needed in the planning of the city and BMPC members need to stand up and fulfil their obligation to the city,” said Vijayan Menon, Citizens Action Forum.
BDA Commissioner Rajkumar Khatri refused to comment on the demand for public consultation but said he would reply to those who have raised the demand directly.
CM had promised consultation
BDA’s lack of transparency over RMP-2031 comes despite Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s directions for public consultation recently.
When a delegation of Citizens for Bengaluru met the chief minister over the steel flyover project on October 28, they complained about the lack of transparency over drafting of the master plan.
The delegation claims that the chief minister directed BDA officials to hold public consultations over the master plan.
The BDA has had a troubled history of public consultations over master plans. A public meet held in April 2015 was a stormy affair with several groups boycotting saying the BDA had no mandate to plan for the city. They insisted that the BMPC should plan for the city.
NGT hearing over steel flyover postponed
The southern bench of the National Green Tribunal, based in Chennai, which was scheduled to hear the petition filed by Citizens Action Forum (CAF), did not function on Tuesday after the Tamil Nadu government announced mourning on account of the death of its Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. The interim stay order over the steel flyover will continue till the next hearing, sources said.
