Must-haves for Bangalore Master Plan 2031
Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is all set to draft a proposal for Bangalore Master Plan 2031 so as to define proper land use and provide a framework for preserving the City’s unique character and promoting the desired change.
Interestingly, this comes at a time when the Bangalore Revised Master Plan (RMP) 2015, drafted in 2005, is drawing flak from the general public and urban strategists and planners. The plan envisaged a local planning area of 1300 sq. km. with 387 villages, 7 city municipal corporations and one town municipal corporation. But this number has significantly gone up even further by the CDP 2015 draft plan itself.
Commonfloor highlights some of the major lacunae in RMP 2015 that certainly need to be addressed while drafting the new master plan for 2031.
Plan must focus on Town Planning Schemes: One of the major drawbacks of RMP 2015, as cited by experts, was that there were no town planning schemes. The plan suggested mixed-zone approach that allowed commercial units to come up in residential areas. Moreover, it also garnered flak from other sections including architects, few builders and, above all, the general public because mixed-use of land would cause serious dent in the residential areas as well as lead to traffic congestion and chaos in the city.
According to Naresh V. Narasimhan- Partner & Principal Architect of Venkataramanan Associates, “The RMP 2015 had no Town Planning Schemes. There has been no implementation of any detailed town planning work as such.”
Public consultation process needs prominence: There was absolutely no public participation of any sorts before drafting the city plan. Even genuine objections raised by citizens, later on, were quietly dismissed. It is, however, important that inputs be taken from voluntary citizen action groups that are equally committed and involved in urban planning and strategy. Various RWAs, NGOs and other industry must have their say.
“The tools to connect with citizens and get their genuine feedbacks are not well developed. There are several ways to connect with the public. Multiple channels such as conventional media, digital media or even social media can play an active role here. The government must make use of these before drafting the future plan,” states Sumit Jain, Co-founder & CEO, Commonfloor.com.
Proper Integration between Infrastructure authorities is essential: The current plan stands in isolation and is just a zonal document, at best. It is not linked with other urban development infrastructure areas such as water, power, waste, transport, etc. At the time of preparation of the plan itself, little was done by the BDA to bring the various infrastructure authorities together on the planning table. As a result, the plan failed to bring the civic and infrastructure authorities to work in close coordination with each other resulting in haphazard development all around the city.
Need for short-term Plans: There is an urgent need for the city to go in with short-term plans rather than decadal ones. Experts feel that such plans must be continuously revised every three to four years. “This will ensure that the strategic plan’s visions are well in sight without actually swerving from it,” feels Chandrashekar Hariharan of ZED-BCIL.
A committee to monitor Implementation: Currently, there is no committee, whatsoever, that can review and diligently check the progress of the master plan, whether there has been proper implementation as per the plan or not and make the changes as required. The RMP 2015 is more of a static document, that too not followed by all. However, in the next plan a committee must be formed which mandatorily checks that all stakeholders are following the guiding principles.
Follow a proper Game Plan: RMP 2015 was expected to envisage and determine what the city will look through the targeted period. But it failed to keep in sync with the population growth of the city or the existing deficits in city administration and planning. There was absolutely no game plan to fix these. In its absence, the ‘Garden City’ has gradually slipped into a state where the administration is unable to come to grips with its exponential growth pattern. “Unfortunately, the authorities are unable to handle basic hygiene factors vital for any ‘investment destination.’ There is garbage all around, overflowing drains on roads, heavy traffic jams and potholed roads,” opines Hariharan.
Public money must be put to noble use: Other major drawback of RMP 2015 was that a large amount of public money has simply gone waste. With proper implementation of the Plan, the tax payer’s money could have been put to good use. But this didn’t happen. There were only expenditure budgets, with no accountability for the output achieved.
Economic vision is vital: The current plan, as such, is bereft of an economic vision. “Lack of innovative policies and regulations could not address issues such as rapid urbanisation, infrastructure, education and healthcare besides cracking down on scourges such as high inflation and black money in the market,” states Sumit Jain.
To conclude, as much as the development plan was comprehensive in its writing, it was completely oblivious of the ground-up needs of implementation. Bangalore is chugging along in the sweet state of anarchy wherein it has managed to survive over the last 20 years. But how long this can continue is to be seen.
