Taking a stern view of the delay in finalisation of Chandigarh Master Plan- Vision 2031, the Union Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) has directed the UT Administration to submit the master plan by August 10.
The directions were issued by the senior functionaries of MoUD following a meeting held in New Delhi last week.
The UT Administration has submitted the Chandigarh Master Plan (CMP) to Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Shivraj Patil for approval.
A senior official of the UT Administration said that the UT Administrator is likely to convene another meeting and after this, the plan will be approved. After his approval, the master plan will be sent to MoUD for final nod.
The official said that after taking into consideration, the views of members of Administrator’s Advisory Council and recommendations of Board of Inquiry and Hearing, some changes were made in the draft master plan and it was submitted to the UT Administrator.
“The MoUD had last week fixed the deadline of August 10 to submit the master plan. Now, the Administration is likely to submit the plan to MoUD by the end of this week,” added the official.
In the past, the Administration’s officials were taken to task by the MoUD and Punjab & Haryana High Court for delaying in finalisation of master plan and missing several deadlines to submit the plan.
The Administration had notified the draft of UT master plan in October 2013 and had invited objections from the city residents against the proposed draft. In all, 171 representations were received by the Department of Urban Planning. And, 116 representations were left after eliminating the duplicates.
After this, a Board of Inquiry and Hearing was constituted to examine the objections received on the draft master plan.
The draft CMP was also sent to the Town and Country Planning Organisation, technical arm of MoUD, which had appreciated the Administration for drafting a comprehensive plan for the union territory of Chandigarh.
The entire area of 114 sq km comprising the union territory of Chandigarh has been covered in the master plan and includes 70 sq km of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the original plan prepared by le Corbusier and Phase 3 Sectors besides the area under the periphery.
Designed for a population of only five lakhs, the City Beautiful is now bursting at the seams with more than 10 lakh inhabitants.
In view of the limited land available for future growth and infrastructure needs, and to maintain its low rise, green and spacious character, the holding capacity of the landlocked city has been capped for a population of 16 lakh in the master plan. The plan has put forth recommendations on improving sectors like transport, parking, education, health services among others in the city.
The master plan has also proposed big projects including Paryatan Bhawan in Sector 17, State of the Art Convention Centre (Nehru Centre for Performing Arts) in Sector 34, Museum of Knowledge (MoK) in Capitol Complex Sector 1, Modern Terminal Market near Sector 39, Integrated Warehousing Complex in Industrial Area, Modernized Transport Nagar, Housing projects in southern sectors and wildlife corridor between the reserved forest area and the regulator end of the Sukhna lake.