THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city corporation has sought a clarification from the government over an order on reviving the master plan for city development, which has been kept in abeyance since last year following protests.
According to Mayor V K Prashant, the order issued on February 19 by the Urban Affairs Department vaguely mentioned permitting land use in the city as per the draft master plan. The order allowed land use for residential houses, industrial and commercial complexes and other permissible projects as per the draft master plan for Thiruvananthapuram, which had been kept frozen since May 2014.The government order has given directive to unfreeze the master plans of North Paravoor and Kannur municipalities and made a slight mention of unfreezing the draft master plan of the Thiruvananthapuram city corporation.
This created a lot of confusion as the local body could not identify if the order was for lifting the ban on the controversial master plan or the one modified by the local body recently. If the order is regarding the old master plan, then it would pave way for fresh protests.“There is lot of ambiguity regarding the order. What was the need for the government to issue such an order when the Assembly elections are at the door steps. We want the government to reject the old draft plan,” the Mayor said. The governing coucil of corporation wanted the new draft to be discussed at the ward levels before making a final draft. The LDF took out a protest march towards Secretariat demanding the government to approve the old draft.The local body has called for a special council meeting on March 19 to discuss the issue.