Bengaluru: The public consultation on Wednesday over the Revised Master Plan 2031 was a stormy affair with participants questioning the authority of BDA to draw up the plan and its failure to map out a better future for the city. The absence of BDA officers at the meet for East Zone enraged the participants who had to interact only with consultants from Royal Haskoning DHV.
N.S. Mukunda, one of the founders of Citizen Action Forum, questioned the authority of BDA to continue with the master plan. Many took strong objection to the process followed and the content of the plan.
Many participants were against expansion of the city to accommodate over two crore people. Suggestions varied from capping the growth of the city to developing five satellite towns. But the general mood was against further rapid expansion of the city, terming it unsustainable.
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Retired bureaucrat Dr. A. Ravindra, a former BDA commissioner, said that the new plan had no meaning unless BDA did an on-ground survey and a gap analysis with three previous master plans. “Why is the Authority not ready to publish this study and the on-ground situation?”
Kathyayini Chamaraj of CIVIC said the plan had no provision for affordable housing, garbage management at the ward level and land for schools, anganwadis and other such facilities for the poor.
BDA has scheduled public consultation for South Zone at NMKRV College on Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m.
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