The New Indian Express 30.01.2014
Remove Clause, Says Mayor
Confusion prevails in the areas coming under the draft master plan for 2031, with the City Corporation demanding withdrawal of a government notification freezing construction activities in those areas. Mayor K Chandrika has pointed out that a certain clause present in the gazette dated September 23, 2013 was making the conditions in the draft master plan immediately applicable for certain areas.
“The clause will be detrimental to areas from Attipra to Kattayikonam. Hence, the said clause must be removed and it has to be added that ‘status quo maintained’ until the detailed master plan is published,” said Chandrika in a press conference held here on Wednesday.
As per the draft master plan, Kattayikonam and Mangottukonam areas are fully set aside for public institutions. Attipra and Kallingal are strategic zones. Kadakampally and Ulloor areas are to be turned into tourism zones. “These places are densely populated and when the draft plan was published neither the government nor the Town Planning department had mentioned that the above said matters would come into effect soon,” said Chandrika.
Though there was a strong demand from the
councillors and people’s representatives to publish the draft plan in
Malayalam, only a concise material in 10 pages in the language was
brought out finally. The draft master plan did not mention survey
numbers or other details. According to the Mayor, this, in turn, posed
difficulties for people to understand the draft master plan fully.