The Hindu 01.12.2009
Move to abolish urban development authorities hailed
Special Correspondent
The policy provides for merger of UDAs with civic bodies It helps usher in democratisation
of town planning
MYSORE: The proposed move to abolish the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and other similar institutions in the State and merge them with urban local bodies has been described as a step to ensure public participation in urban planning and governance as envisaged in the 74th Amendment of the Constitution.
The new draft Urban Development Policy 2009, which was released last month, has noted that “historical focus on town planning is simply inadequate to ensure proper development of cities and their neighbouring areas. Therefore, it is important to replace this highly local planning method with a broader spatial approach through metropolitan planning committees (MPCs) in Bangalore, Hubli-Dharwad and Mysore, and through district planning committees (DPCs) elsewhere.”
The draft policy adds that the urban development authorities may be abolished and their functions transferred to the MPCs and DPCs, and the district-level spatial planning should consolidate various plans that are made by local planning authorities and develop a draft plan for improvement of the district as a whole.
Non-governmental organisations such as the Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) have welcomed the move and said this has been delayed though the 74th Amendment to the Constitution has made it mandatory to abolish the executive body which is not accountable to anyone.
Deputy Commissioner P. Manivannan has said that if the draft policy is implemented, then MUDA, in all probability, will be merged with the Mysore City Corporation (MCC).
He told The Hindu that MUDA would come under the ambit of the MCC and this would help expand the role and responsibility of the councillors.
The resource base of the MCC would also increase substantially in addition to grants and funds and MCC’s sphere of responsibility would increasingly come to be dominated by the concepts of urban planning in addition to providing civic amenities. This, according to Mr. Manivannan, would help dovetail planning and resources, while implementing projects unlike in the present where MUDA developed the area and transferred it to MCC.
The decision to merge executive bodies such as MUDA, which are not accountable to anyone but only to the Urban Development Ministry, is expected to usher in greater democratisation of town planning. But the crux of the issue is that MCC in its existing form does not have the capacity for urban planning which calls for specialised knowledge, inputs and training and this may call for “capacity-building” of the MCC.
But Mr. Manivannan said capacity-building of the MCC would not take long, but the move was beneficial in the long run as there would be no contradiction in the execution of civil works.
