Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The city development plan, which has been stalled for 33 years, was suddenly handed over to municipal administrator Shrikant Deshmukh on Wednesday night. . The plan will be released to the public on Thursday. This roadmap for urban development has been stuck in a race of hurdles for the last eight years.
The municipality currently uses two development plans, the old city and the other the extended city limits. Apart from this, CIDCO and MIDC have prepared separate development plans as planning authorities. No plan has been drawn up since the city's extended boundaries in 2001. In 2015-16, the government was directed to prepare a development plan. The dispute reached the Supreme Court as lawmakers did not follow the rules of the plan.
Two years ago, the government announced that the city's old and new development plans would be prepared together. Accordingly, a special DP unit was set up under the leadership of Town Planning Officer Raza Khan. They created an existing land use map in April 2023 and submitted it to administrators. The government appointed Shrikant Deshmukh as a special officer while the unit was in the process of preparing the draft development plan. The case is still going on in the Supreme Court.
Deshmukh prepared the draft development plan. On Wednesday night, he submitted a copy of the draft development plan to Municipal Administrator G. Srikanth. City Engineer A.B. Deshmukh, Deputy Director Town Planning Manoj Garje, Deputy Commissioners Somnath Jadhav, Nanda Gaikwad, Executive Engineer K.K. M. Falak, a team from the DP unit, and other officers were present.
The city will get a new directionAfter adopting the development plan, Administrator G. Srikanth said it was very unfortunate that the development plan of the city has been stalled for so many years. The draft development plan will give a new direction to the city. No development plan pleases everyone.
Will invite suggestions, objectionsThe government-appointed officials and their team submitted the plan and report in two copies in a sealed envelope. The plan will be published at the MUNICIPAL headquarters. Suggestions and objections from citizens will be invited.
This was how development was hamperedMany major housing projects were stalled as the city's development plan was not being prepared. For eight years, reservations, roads, and widening stalled. The network of unplanned colonies began to grow on all sides of the city. There were no sites for public use. The new development plan is sure to address many problems.