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Master plan: Some hope, much misgiving
Dehradun, November 20 The much-awaited master plan that was being prepared since 2001 promises wide roads, elevated expressways, bridges, overhead bridges, hospitals, bus stands, commercial and residential complexes and subways. But what of the money involved in implementing such a gigantic plan. The transformation of this sleepy town into a bustling metropolis of the future needs huge amounts. From where will this money come? As per the plan, in order to develop infrastructure in a phased manner, a sum of more than Rs 11,000 crore will be needed. It is yet to be seen how a state government reeling under tremendous financial stress copes up with such huge expenditure. With the decision to award Sixth Pay Commission scales to its 1,63,000 employees, the state government is already burdened with more than Rs 5,000 crore expenditure. Uttarakhand was under a debt of Rs 4,000 at the time of its formation in 2000. The debt rose to Rs 13,000 crore in 2007 and is likely to touch Rs 20,000 crore. "The state government is mum on the issue. It should explain from where will it get such a huge sum," said Congress legislator Dinesh Aggarwal. However, the master plan comes as a relief for those who had built their homes and hearths on colonies developed by private builders on agricultural land in violation of rules. Out of 34,867 hectares under the master plan, a total of 2,200 hectares of agricultural land where colonies had come up was legitimised along with scores of slum colonies that had sprung on the banks of almost every river and rivulet passing through Dehradun. But the residents of illegal slums built on the banks remain in suspense with Uttarakhand Chief Minister Khanduri announcing that five to 10 metres of land on both sides of the banks would be cleared for plantation and beautification. It means that slum colonies built in the river-bed and on both sides of the banks would be cleared. Even government officials have nothing much to say on the issues.
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Property rates to slide: Realtors
Dehradun, November 20 A majority of real estate agents are of the opinion that consumers will now have to shell out less to buy property, whether residential or commercial. Ajay Khanna, who deals in real estate, said if the master plan is enforced strictly, it will be of immense help to the consumer. “Earlier, there were very few commercial areas, due to which land prices in these areas were skyrocketing. Now with more areas being placed in the commercial category, the land prices are expected to go down”, he said. Sharing similar views, Rohit of Future Infrastructure and Development Private Limited said the market would witness a downward trend. “ With approval to conversion of considerable area of agricultural land into residential and bringing many residential localities into the commercial category, the authorities have provided the investors an opportunity to purchase property of their choice and that too by spending less money.” Inder Singh said now the prices of new areas mentioned in the master plan and included in the commercial category had gone up. “It is unlikely that land prices will go up further,” he said, adding that a clear picture would emerge in a few months. Sanjay Vasudev of Shri Bhavya Associates said prices of agricultural land now accorded residential status had increased
a bit. Ranjit Singh Aswal of Friends Associate said he did not see the possibility land rates going down.
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Giant cos. will gobble land
Dehradun, November 20 Both young and old alike would find hard to get space. The city has few vacant sites left.These would be gobbled by giant construction companies. MS Mehta, who works for restoring Dehradun’s green surroundings, says for the older strata, living would become much difficult. The change in the land use policy would result in greenry becoming a causality. Social activist Praveen Kaushal said the new master plan would only widen the gap between the rich and the poor. “With increasing migration, there is no provision for low-cost housing. While the plan panders to the rich, suffering by the poor will continue,” he observed. The intellectuals’ Guild in Dehradun is hopeful that the plan will lead to better employment opportunities. But PK Khatri, an office-bearer of the Uttarakhand Chapter Intellectual and Technocrats Guild of India, says the increase in migration could lead to rise
in crime. Dr Anil Joshi, who has been working for empowerment of villages, said the master plan would “certainly destruct the rural character of Dehradun.” “While the city grows, surrounding villages will be the causality as such master plans are usually replacive whereas they should rather be reinforcing in nature.” He said community participation was a must for any master plan.
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Councillors cautious
Dehradun, November 20 He said the announcement of the plan would result in greater impetus to development activities in
the city. Elaborating, he said while key issues such as improvement in traffic arrangements, had been addressed, other important sectors of health and education had also been accorded top priority and so had environment issues. The basis of the Master Plan -2025 is the 2001 census but the actual population in 2025 will be more
than that. “While the census puts the present Dehradun population figures to 15 lakh 30 thousand, it will be much higher by 2025”, Chamoli said, adding that this fact had to be kept in mind while implementing the plan. However, for most councillors, it was too early to react. Congress councillor Vijay Pratap Mall said he was yet to go through the contents of the new master plan. Another councillor Abdul Aziz said he was still to study the plan. Jeewan Singh was hopeful that the plan would be to the benefit of Doonites. However, Defence Colony councillor SS Rawat looked apprehensive over the implementation of the plan. “ The master plan is in the right direction but
all depends on its proper implementation ”, Rawat observed. Without such an exercise, nothing fruitful can be expected , said a rather cynical Rawat.
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Project to map villages affected by ravines
Dehradun, November 19 Director of the centre, Dr A.N.Singh, who was in city yesterday, said the project would cover Agra, Etawah, Fatehpur, Jalaun and Banda. “The project mainly deals with mapping of villages affected by ravines,” he said. Dr Singh said the topographical maps of this region from 1937 to 1973 revealed that 12 villages had migrated elsewhere in the period, only because of the washdown of the soil. “The soil quality in the region is good but the problem is that soil is washed away, thereby creating ravines,” he explained. Dr Singh said identification of reclaimable and non-reclaimable areas had already been done and now work on mapping the ravines, which were reclaimable, would be kick-started next year. “We will be ascertaining the land which could be used for agricultural proposes. And the details of the land, which is not fit for agricultural purposes would be given to the forest department, so that it could be used for the plantation of trees,” he informed. About another project successfully undertaken by the centre in Bundelkhand, Dr Singh said on account of immense scarcity of drinking water in Bundelkhand, last year they had conducted a geophysical survey of the region. “During the survey, around 700 sites with water-bearing layer were identified. And the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam undertook immediate drilling and hand pumps were installed at these sites. “In the urban areas, instead of hand pumps, tubewells were installed. In this manner we got a major success in sorting out the problem of potable water,” he said Dr Singh said supported by state government, the centre had completed a project to provide fresh water in areas like Agra and Mathura, where the water was saline. “With the use of the remote sensing, we try to locate the zone of the fresh water below the saline water zone. Then, we seal the saline water zone and fresh water is made available to the inhabitants.” he added.
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Letter
The MC councillors on Tueday took various decisions regarding poor sanitation conditions of Dehradun. We are thankful to the councillors that at least they have understood the seriousness of the problem. But now we hope that they execute what they have planned.
Outsourcing of sanitation workers for big wards could be a good move as it will reduce the burden on workers and let them cover wide area. New machines should be introduced for removing and dumping garbage, which will make it easy for workers to complete ther job faster. Lack of coordination between workers and councillors is also a cause of poor performance of MC in the city. We suggest them to leave behind their personal issues and work hard to make the city clean and beautiful, as a state capital ought to be. Despite write-ups in papers on the unsanitary conditions in the city, the authorities have done precious little in this regard so far. The councillors seem to be ineffective to get work done. Perhaps, that is why they decided to raise their voice at the MC board meeting on Tuesday. If even now nothing is done towards cleanliness of the city, one wonders what more will it take to move the authorities. An epidemic? Hope not. Sudesh,
Dehradun
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