Jammu Master Plan 2032: The governor of Jammu & Kashmir, Narinder Nath Vohra has put his eye on the preparation of revised Master Plan-2032 in a meeting held at Civil Secretariat.
Chief Secretary; Financial Commissioner, Planning and Development Department; Commissioner/Secretary Housing and Urban Development, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu; Secretary Revenue; Secretary, Rural Development; Commissioner, JMC; Chief Engineer, R&B, Jammu; Vice Chairman, JDA; Chief Architect, Architect Organization, J&K and Chief Town Planner, Town Planning Organization, Jammu has joined the meeting.
The revised master plans has been prepared by keeping in view the provision of under the J&K Development Act 1970. The revised master plan is to address the major points including address the issues relating to haphazard urban growth, unauthorized habitation and rising demand of housing, infrastructure and services.
The draft Master Plan-2032 focuses on area limits of Jammu city by increasing it from 305 square kilometer to 652.32 square kilometer to cover the an estimated population of 20.50 lakh. According to the source, the revised Master Plan proposes to include 103 additional villages of Jammu and Samba districts as part of Greater Jammu.
The Governor emphasized the focus on point:
- Striking a rational balance between the vital requirement of sustainable agriculture growth and the demands of urbanization
- Specifically focusing on the availability of adequate urban infrastructure facilities, particularly ground water
- Ensuring regulated constructions in accordance with the building bye-laws, particularly in the context of Jammu falling in Seismic Zone-IV.
The governor focused on the high responsibility of Jammu Municipal Corporation and Jammu Development Authority. The agencies directed to take their eye on the each component of construction so that the construction will be done in a legal process. The Governor also directed the JDA and JMC to use modern technology, including satellite imageries, for ensuring effective checking of encroachments.
According to the source, Urban Agencies should also focus on urban design, height and façade control of public and private buildings. The Governor also directed the Housing and Urban Development Department to come out with a suitable legislation to regulate the unplanned and haphazard growth in the areas at the periphery of the existing local areas which are not urban in the existing Master Plan area.
Emphasising the importance of much higher transparency in land management, the Governor directed the Revenue Department to expedite digitization of all revenue records in the entire State in a time bound manner and furnish an Action Plan to him by 10th March 2016.
The draft Master Plan should be placed in the public domain for inviting comments from various stakeholders and people at large before the same is finalized. The Housing and Urban Development Department will also contact the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, and seek assistance for capacity building of Architects and Town Planners in the State, and also seek their technical inputs on the draft Master Plan.
Source: http://risingkashmir.com/