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Dual CRZ rules in corporation creating lopsided development

Friday, 02 August 2013 11:03 administrator
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The New Indian Express              02.08.2013

Dual CRZ rules in corporation creating lopsided development

Though the erstwhile panchayats— Elathur, Cheruvannur- Nallalam and Beypore—were incorporated to the City Corporation way back in 2009, they still remain panchayats, at least as per the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ). The Coastal Regulation Zone notification 2011, issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has classified the environmentally fragile coastal areas into four zones- from CRZ-I to CRZ-IV. As per the classification, areas in Kozhikode Corporation limit fall under the CRZ-II, excluding the three erstwhile panchayats. These panchayats still remain in the CRZIII category.

The City Corporation Council had passed a resolution urging the Union Government to notify the inclusion of the three merged panchayats in the CRZ-II category, in 2011. However, Corporation authorities said that the process had reached nowhere. According to the CRZ notification 2011, areas between Low Tide Line (LTL) and High Tide Line (HTL) come under CRZ-II, which means the areas that have been developed upto or close to the shoreline. In general “developed areas” are included in the category.

Meanwhile, CRZ-III is defined as areas that are relatively undisturbed and those do not belong to either CRZ-I or II, which include coastal zone in the rural areas (developed and undeveloped). Officials say that having different scales of CRZ in the same local body is affecting building constructions and the building plans getting approval. “As they have been merged with the Corporation, all the three (erstwhile) panchayats should come under CRZ-II.

But the process has been delayed, mainly affecting the construction and development activities in these areas. A huge number of applications for building plan approval are pending before the corporation,” said A M Jayan, Secretary, Calicut Development Authority (CDA). He was earlier an engineer with the City Corporation. In CRZ-III area, upto 200mts from HTL on the landward side in case of seafront and 100 mts along tidal-influenced water bodies or width of the creek, whichever is less, is to be earmarked as “No Development Zone” (NDZ), while in CRZ-II, buildings are permitted on the landward side of the existing road, or on the landward side of existing authorised structures.

“There is a need to prepare a map identifying the areas that fall under CRZ-II category in the erstwhile panchayats. Then it is for the Union Government to issue the order notifying the three incorporated panchayats in the CRZ-II. However, nothing has been done so far,” Jayan added.

CRZ-II and CRZ-III as per CRZ notification 2011

CRZ II is referred to as 'developed area', or the area within the existing municipal limits or in other existing legally designated urban areas which are substantially built up and has been provided with drainage and approach roads and other infrastructure facilities, as water supply and sewerage.

CRZ III denotes areas that are relatively undisturbed and those do not belong to either CRZ-I or II. Coastal zone in the rural areas (developed and undeveloped) and areas within municipal limits or in other legally designated urban areas, which are not substantially built up, come under this category.

 

Cuttack municipal corporation to have 5 new wards

Thursday, 01 August 2013 11:03 administrator
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The New Indian Express           01.08.2013

Cuttack municipal corporation to have 5 new wards

Cuttack city is poised to have five new wards with the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) passing a resolution on delimitation of wards.

The CMC meeting held on Wednesday was unanimous on the proposal for increasing the number of wards from 54 to 59. The wards would be created by redrawing several existing wards on the basis of population and concentration of voters.

As per the resolution, seven wards comprising 1, 2, 3, 21, 23, 52 and 53 would be redrawn to give shape to new entities.  Wards from 1 to 3 encompassing the CDA, Bidanasi, Sandhapur and Bidyadharpur region have been proposed to be bifurcated into six wards while wards 21 and 23 comprising Bisinabar, Kesharpur, Rausapatana, Haripur, Samanta Sahi, Dolamundai along with Kathagada Sahi, Kumbhar Sahi, Nimasahi, Bhagatpur and  Tarachandpatna would be split to create three wards. Wards 52 and 53 comprising the region beyond Kathjodi river to Phulnakhara would be divided into three wards.

The resolution, along with complete demographics of the proposed wards including males and females, caste and community has been sent to the State Government for publication of the statutory notification for delimitation of the wards.

The Government is expected to issue the notification inviting objections by August 10 and the process of receiving the feedback would be completed by August 20. The final notification on the creation of new wards and reservation status will be issued by August 31, Mayor Soumendra Ghosh said.

Carving new entities has been deemed necessary as the population of the city has gone up to 6,10,189 in the 2011 census from 5.35 odd-lakh in the 2001 census. “As per norms, there should be 59 wards for a population of six lakh. With Cuttack population crossing the mark, required wards have to be created”, Ghosh explained. The process of formulation of new wards will have no bearing on the impending elections to CMC as the polls are due after February 2014. The process would be completed and formalised by the time elections are declared, the Mayor stated.

7 More Wards Added to BMC

Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) submitted a fresh delimitation report based on 2011 Census to the State Government.

 Seven new wards have been added to existing wards as per  new delimitation undertaken by the State Government taking the total count to 67. Even though State Election Commission (SEC) has asked BMC to conduct election based on 2001 census report, Government issued directions for fresh delimitation under BMC. As per 2011 census report, city’s population stands at 8.40 lakh. According to fresh delimitation report, six wards have been reserved for SC , three for ST, 18 for OBC category and 40 for general. In total, 34 wards have been reserved for women and 33 for men. The population of each ward has been kept between 11,000 and 12,500.

 

PMC approves Rs 1 crore to each ward for development

Wednesday, 31 July 2013 11:12 administrator
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The Indian Express                31.07.2013 

PMC approves Rs 1 crore to each ward for development

The Panchkula Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday approved a developmental budget of Rs 1-crore for each ward following complaints from its members that developmental works in the city were not happening as per expectations. The budget was sanctioned from the total development budget of Rs 33.5 crore earlier approved by the state government.

Executive Officer of PMC, O P Sihag, said the funds approved for each ward will be used for sanitation works and development of parks. Additionally, it will also be used for construction and repair of roads.

The PMC also decided the Mayor may sanction more funds to the members if the need arises.

Further, it has asked its members to submit estimates related to the development in their areas, which the PMC will review.

The elected members were urging the civic body to allocate Rs 2 crores for each ward, which is more than the developmental budget approved by the government for the 20 wards under the corporation. The members were informed they could approach the government for additional funds.

According to officials, the corporation's budget for this year is about Rs 68 crore including salaries of employees.

At the meeting the PMC also decided to increase the fee on the maintenance of parks from Rs 1.5 to Rs 3 per square feet.

Earlier the corporation had moved the proposal to increase the maintenance charge on the parks from Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 which was later fixed at Rs 3 on the insistence of its members. Elected corporator Lily Bawa, asked for the fee for maintenance of parks to be increased to Rs 4. However, this proposal was declined.

According to PMC members, the increase had become necessary owing to the increase in labour rates in the city.

Meanwhile, the PMC in its meeting also set up a committee to decide on the fee being charged on use of parks for community functions.

 
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