Brahmapur had its last master plan way back in 1969 with focus on urban growth and provision of basic amenities for a population of over two lakh by 1986. But, the mission had failed.
Again, the Brahmapur Development Authority (BDA) had tried to have a master plan for the city twice in 1998 and 2004, which could not materialize due to fund crunch and other reasons.
Ultimately, the Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO) was provided the contract for preparation of a Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) in 2008 and the State Government had sanctioned Rs1.08 crore for the purpose.
During last four years, the technical officers and engineers of the TCPO have visited Brahmapur several times and taken the satellite images of the region. About Rs80 lakh alone was spent for the
purpose.
The draft CDP had undergone revision several times which took four and a half years to complete.
The present CDP, however, aims to provide urban development plan for the area now under the BDA which includes areas of urban bodies like Brahmapur, Gopalpur and Chhatrapur and 139 adjoining villages.
This would be part of the “Greater Brahmapur” with a vision of development for next 30 years. The CDP would comprise a total area of 317 sq km having an estimated population of 5, 13,760 persons. Hence, the dream to form “Greater Brahmapur” is soon going to
be a reality.
Notably, on January 1, 2009, the State Government had declared Brahmapur as the third municipal corporation of Odisha and the gazette notification then had proposed for increase of the territorial ambit of the Brahmapur Municipal Corporation (BMC).
The TCPO, the technical advisory body of the Union Urban Development Ministry, initially had prepared the plan with the help of the Odisha Remote Sensing Application Centre, State Town Planning Department and the BDA.
Being called by the Advisory Body, the vice chairman and planning member of the BDA visited New Delhi last August and held discussions threadbare about the CDP, the preparation cost of which then was estimated at around
Rs1, 09, 75,000 out of which the State Government had released Rs35.50 lakh in the first phase
in 2009.
After a long gap of 40 years, the Brahmapur city is now set to get a master plan for its planned development. The new master plan (CDP) would be Geographical Information System (GIS)-based as it would depend on remote sensing data provided by satellites as well as the ground level data collected through surveys.
It is understood that the BDA has already been intimated by the TCPO about the finalisation of the CDP report which would be delivered to the BDA here at Brahmapur after finalisation of a
convenient date, sources informed.
On the other hand, after receipt full report of the CDP, it would be more convenient both for the BDA and the BMC to determine and demarcate different object specific zones such as educational, industrial, market zone, theatre zone, establishment of park, ring roads, etc as per the plan.
According to reliable sources, the proposed CDP has already identified the drainage, road, ring-road, by-pass road, Government buildings and earmarked each of these amenities in the plan including plan for expansion of road and removal of encroachments made in densely populated areas of the city.
Experts suggest that the CDP would help to revamp Brahmapur city into a modern metro city with state-of-art infrastructure, while others apprehend that after implementation of the CDP, encroachments made by many multi-storied buildings and commercial houses, more particularly in main roads and market areas, may face demolition and could become the victim of such modernisation or expansion, which will be known only after the full report of the CDP is received by the BDA and made public, feels a section of public.
Though it is late, but the proposed master plan (CDP) is imminent to form “Greater Brahmapur” as the city is expanding at a faster pace, said former Deputy Speaker and senior BJP leader Rama Chandra Panda.
However, the Government should go for formulating stringent regulation to stop indiscriminate conversion of agricultural land for non agricultural purposes and to enact suitable laws to regulate the builders taking lesson from the recent tragedy of Thane incident occurred in Maharastra.
Student leader Prabhat Kumar Mohanty demanded that the proposed CDP once approved should be strictly implemented and executed in letter and spirit in the greater interest of the public. lack of effective leadership, apathy of the Government, lack inter-departmental coordination, and forward planning are the key hindrances in developing the historic city, he stated.
He further said that it is quite unfortunate that the Government and the local administration hardly pay any attention to public grievances aired in different media from time to time. While citing a few such instances, he said that the Government fails to evict the unlawful encroachments in the main roads in the city and the existing drainage system under BMC is in a deplorable and unhygienic state. For last 20 years, there is no permanent Secretary in the BDA, he alleged. The health services for child and women welfare services in the district are equally disastrous, he opined.
According to BDA Planning Committee member Raj Kishore Sahu, the regulation for the proposed CDP has already been finalised and will be shortly notified in the Gazette after due approval of the District Collector.
However, the implementation of the CDP will take more time as it has to pass through several stages in the due process of law.
The TCPO has already handed over six reports and the map pertaining to the CDP will be presented on April 20 to
the BDA.
After its presentation, the draft notification would be published in the Gazette
inviting objections or alternations from the public, if any, and thereafter, the objections would be heard, and if found genuine would be incorporated and corrected, which after due approval of the Government will be finally notified in the Gazette for implementation, he added.