The State Government on Monday issued orders, establishing urban development authorities for Coimbatore and Tiruppur, on the lines of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA).
This follows an announcement made in the Budget placed before the Assembly in August. Madurai and Hosur too will have such bodies, the orders for which will be issued shortly, said a senior official from the State Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department.
Housing Minister S. Muthusamy said the purpose of the new bodies was to accelerate the pace of development of the cities and provide “focused attention” to issues concerning the cities.
For the time being, ad hoc bodies, along with advisory councils, have been set up. The exact composition of the authorities will be decided at the time of framing laws for the new bodies.
Principal Secretary of the HUD department [Hitesh Kumar S. Makwana] has been made the chairman for the two bodies, while Collectors of the districts concerned will hold the post of vice-chairperson. Apart from several officials drawn from various departments, including Finance, Transport, Industries, Municipal Administration and Water Supply, the managing director of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has been included as a member of the authorities. The presence of the CMRL MD will be useful as and when the government decides to implement the Metro Rail project in Coimbatore, the official said. There will be three non officials, two of whom will be nominated by the State Government, from fields like housing, trade and industry, and the other from the world of academia. Secretary of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises [V. Arun Roy] will head the advisory councils. The statutory authorities are expected to be in place in three to four months
The official said the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), by the very nature of its functioning, had been concentrating on the matter of planning. But cities such as Coimbatore and Madurai were now in need of greater attention than what they were getting. Besides, while planning their development, the surrounding areas too had to be covered. These functions could be served only by creating urban development bodies. In addition, the new bodies would be useful for taking up projects like the Koyambedu wholesale market, Koyambedu mofussil bus terminus and the Sathangadu iron and steel market, all of which were executed by the CMDA, the official said.
The two G.O.s said the existing master plan for Coimbatore was prepared in 1994 for the local planning area (LPA) of 1,276 sq km. It was planned to increase the LPA to 1532 sq km, covering the Coimbatore Corporation, 25 town panchayats and 71 revenue villages. In respect of Tiruppur, the present plan was formulated in 2006 for the LPA of 220 sq km. The idea is to take the LPA to 617 sq km, encompassing the Tiruppur Corporation, 4 town panchayats and 31 villages.
