CHENNAI: The proposed merger of the two planning wings of the Greater Chennai Corporation — Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) and Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) — with the local bodies has been dropped. While the plan would have created a common and efficient workforce and also addressed the huge number of vacancies in the urban bodies, it is the very structure of the local bodies that is now a deterrent.
The merger was devised to create a common pool of town planners, well acquainted with the Development Control Regulations, to allow for an organised development of the urban and rural regions. The local bodies, however, employ engineers who double as town planners. This is why the plan was deemed as not feasible, say top officials of the Housing and Urban Development.The CMDA and DTCP are already faced with a huge number of vacancies in case of town planners. Of the 232 staff on roll at CMDA, only 56 are qualified ones. The number drops to a mere 10 in DTCP and its subordinate offices. What more, of the 801 workers employed by the DTCP, only 267 are permanent staff. The vacancies also extend to the posts of joint director, deputy director and assistant director; all these positions are now being handled by temporary staff.
The merger and the subsequent creation of a common workforce would have also addressed several issues pertaining to the adherence of service rules in the CMDA. It was in 1992 that the CMDA amended its service rules, which govern the recruitment and service of its staff. However, its failure to notify the amendments has led to the occasional bending of the rules and confusion. There are 40 service-related cases of the CMDA that is pending before the High Court.
Without the merger, the chance to usher in complete transparency and accountability seems to have been lost. It is also believed that a common workforce would have removed the urban bodies reliance on those recruited on the basis of distance education course not recognised by the All India Council of Technical Education. This has been a long-standing issue with the CMDA, where the unqualified planner were given an advantage with distance education degrees.
Common pool
Merger was devised to create a common pool of planners, acquainted with the Development Control Regulations, to allow for an organised development of urban & rural