CHENNAI: Town Planning is one of the most ignored topics during elections although it is considered the most lucrative and corrupt department when it comes to granting planning permission. Both the ruling and opposition parties have faced allegations for turning a blind eye to violation of development regulations and converting waterbodies into concrete jungles despite censuring by the courts.
Association of Professional Town Planners president KM Sadanand said according planning permission constitutes only 10 per cent of all roles of Town Planning Department. As of now, officials ignore major role of the department as they concentrate on these 10 per cent of activities. Sadanand said, to make town planning more effective, Tamil Nadu requires full implementation of 73rd and 74th amendment to the constitution empowering rural and urban local bodies respectively.
“More than 28 years have passed and this has not been fully implemented in the State,” he said. He also said that, since the last 100 years, the State has had only one development authority unlike other States which have multiple authorities. “There is a need to have 15 development authorities across the State,” he said. According to Sadanand, the prevailing rules, law and act should be strengthened and all the bodies involved in the planning process should be integrated into one.
According to data accessed by The New Indian Express, for the 226 municipal corporations in India, there are 215 development authorities. Karnataka, which has 11 municipal corporations, has 32 development authorities. Similarly, Andhra which has 14 municipal corporations and 18 development authorities. “Only in Tamil Nadu, we have just one development authority for 15 municipal corporations,” says Sadanand.
KP Subramanian, a former professor of urban engineering at Anna University, told The New Indian Express that participation of stakeholders, transparency and accountability are indispensable requirements of any sustainable development and town planning. These have been pushed to the bottom.
Political parties only pay a lip service to transparency. In 2009, there was a plan to usher in transparency in the approval of building plans by installing a new software. That never took off, and in 2020, after being pushed hard by Guidance, the government started working towards coming out with a Comprehensive Construction Portal which will integrate planning permission and building permission given by Directorate of Town and Country Planning, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), and local bodies.
However, the biggest challenge now will be integration of various units of Housing and Urban Development Department with those coming under Municipal Administration and Water Supply department in accordance with planning and building permissions. This includes integration of Directorate of Town and Country Planning, local bodies under Commissionerate of Municipal Administration, CMDA, Greater Chennai Corporation, Directorate of Town Panchayats and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj in a comprehensive construction portal. The deadline to bring the State’s planning and building permission online is March 31, 2021. But sources said that it will take more time.