BENGALURU: A staggering 13,046 objections and suggestions from the public to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) on its draft Revised Master Plan 2031, made Deputy Chief Minister and BDA Chairman G Parameshwara suggest three months ago that the Plan could be revisited. The Authority has now sent a proposal to the government, seeking its permission to rework the Master Plan. However, the government has asked BDA to get its proposal first okayed by the BDA Board.
BDA’s Master Plan aims to put in place a regulatory framework that will give direction to the growth and development of the city for the next 15 years. RMP 2015 continues to be in force now.
A senior BDA official told The New Indian Express, “Due to the huge volume of objections and suggestions received for our Master Plan, we have decided to revise it.”
The BDA recently sought permission from the government for the same. “The state has now asked us to get it okayed at our Board meeting. It will take place in the first week of January,” he said. The comprehensive and exhaustive RMP using GIS mapping was made public on November 25, 2017. The original deadline for the final plan was March 2017. Almost a year has passed since the plan was made public. Meanwhile, it has passed through a rough patch.
Thousands of objections, seven public consultation meetings, Assembly elections in May, a committee set up to examine each of the objections, formation of another committee to re-examine the objections, an NGO challenging in court the authority of the BDA to frame the Master Plan for the city and serious allegations by the Opposition BJP, ensured the plan could not progress as planned.
The Master Plan targeted a shift to public transport by Bengalureans from the existing 48% share to 68%-70%. Classification of the city into three zones, special development zones along Ballari Road, Old Madras Road, Sarjapura Road, Hosur Road and Mysuru Road, upgrading BMTC’s fleet to 15,000 buses, adherence to regulations laid down by the National Green Tribunal, Metro routes along the Peripheral Ring Road and Outer Ring Road are its highlights.