The Forum for Development of North Andhra (FDNA) has sought that the 347-page Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority(VMRDA) Master Plan should be made available in Telugu to involve more number of citizens in planning and extending the deadline for submission of suggestions till September 30.
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Speaking to the media here on Monday, FDNA general secretary A. Aja Sarma said that the main objective of the VMRDA to provide affordable housing to all sections of people, was side-tracked once the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) started auctioning plots during the 1990s.
The VMRDA, in its earlier avatars as the VUDA and the Town Planning Trust (TPT), had developed many colonies and constructed houses or plots at affordable prices on ‘allotment basis’ in Visakhapatnam city and Vizianagaram apart from developing parks for the benefit of the general public in the city. But later the very concept of the VUDA has changed and it was turned into a commercial organisation, he alleged. The draft report was also prepared under this commercial background only. This was evident from the fact that out of 1,051 layouts approved by the VUDA, only 49 are its own layouts while the remaining were fully or partially private, where a low or a middle income group person has no place, he said.
The VUDA was acting like an agent for private corporate real estate developers, Mr. Aja Sarma alleged. The very policy of the VUDA was turned into aggravating the housing problem instead of easing it, he added.
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If the master plan really wants to address this issue, the present policy should be changed completely. In the entire draft, there was no mention about allotment of plots or flats to common people at affordable prices. Without this the draft could do nothing for the development of the people of this region, he said.
Mr. Sarma suggested among other things stopping of the acquisition of lands from the poor and farmers in the name of development of roads and infrastructure.