CHENNAI: With the absence of qualified town planners in the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) and Urban Local Bodies, the Union Ministry of Housing, has asked the State to ensure that only qualified planners are appointed to vacant posts.
Referring to the Niti Aayog report ‘Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity in India’ published in 2021 on strengthening urban planning professions and its education through a series of reforms, additional secretary of the ministry D Thara said the report had also recommended the State to expedite filling up of vacant posts. This comes as the budget earmarked `1,500 crore for capacity building of existing manpower in urban planning.
Official sources told TNIE the State is seized of the matter. According to figures available, there are only 30 qualified town planners out of the total 232 staff in the CMDA, against a sanctioned strength of 819. Similarly, in DTCP, where the sanctioned strength is 801, there are only 267 permanent staff, and only six are qualified. The rest 534 are temporary staff. It is learnt that there is a huge backlog of vacancies in joint director, deputy director and assistant director posts.
This has reiterated the need for a common pool of town planners in TN, who are well acquainted with Development Control Regulations to facilitate planned development. The previous AIADMK government had proposed a merger of the DTCP, CMDA and local bodies, and announced in the Assembly to create a common pool. However, the proposal was later dropped as officials felt it was not feasible.
“Creating a common pool is a welcome idea. Similarly, a common cadre of town planners may be selected by the TNPSC and posted to the DTCP, CMDA, the municipalities/corporations and panchayat unions,” says KP Subramanian, a former professor of urban engineering at Anna University. The DTCP-CMDA merger proposal was dropped because the DTCP is a government department, while the CMDA is a statutory body. However, creation of a common cadre may not have any administrative hurdles, he says.
“Municipalities and corporations have no qualified town planners, as of now. The irony is that the Greater Chennai Corporation, which has an exclusive town planning wing, doesn’t have any. Village panchayats near municipalities experience haphazard developments lacking any planning initiative. Regulating them in the future would warrant costlier solutions including demolitions and acquisitions. Creation of a common cadre may resolve such issues,” he adds.
Association of Professional Town Planner President KM Sadanand says that with four new development authorities proposed in TN along with eight regional planning authorities, the State may require around 120 town planners. Currently, there are only 35 qualified town planners across TN. Of these, hardly a few are involved in town planning activities on a daily basis. He opined the government should recruit deputy planners from the private sector as per the approved service rules. “This has never been implemented,” he states.
“Despite having a School of Architecture and Planning in Anna University since 1964, hardly 100 of the 1,200 town planners who have graduated from the institute have been recruited by the CMDA or the DTCP,” he rues.