Chandigarh Chief Secretary H Rajesh Prasad, a 1995 batch IAS officer of AGMUT cadre, told TNIE that character of the city must be maintained but development should pick up. He said the city can grow when vertical development is considered beyond heritage sectors, and for this, a balance needs to be struck. Excerpts:
What is your vision for Chandigarh and what are you planning?
Chandigarh must develop.
Over the years development has slowed down. There are heritage issues amid the demand for growth. Industry associations say FAR must be increased but people in the residential sector want restrictions. But we have a master plan which addresses these issues. At the same time, the Centre’s deregulation process is on. Process is on to balance the heritage character of the city with modern development to make it a vibrant city. That is the priority.
What are other thrust areas?
We need to upgrade our health, sports and education facilities. We have approved a `60 crore critical care centre and 80-bed hospital in Manimajra. A 500-bed hospital is at the initial stage of planning. We are upgrading Sector 42 stadium into an international level swimming pool. We are identifying talent and giving the youth training and facilities, so that they participate in national and intentional-level sports events. The schools are being upgraded to PM Shri standards with modern infrastructure and smart classes. We are providing modern infrastructure to anganwadi centres.
Waste management has been a problem. Also city came down in Swachh Survekshan rankings.
In a move to achieve carbon-free goals, we have introduced roof-top solar panels on government buildings. They will be installed on private households soon. Efforts on to improve the city’s Swachh Survekshan ranking. Waste collection has gone up to 90%. We are now addressing waste collection problem in rural areas.
How you propose to protect the heritage status of the city and simultaneously carry out development?
I do believe character of Chandigarh must be maintained. Phase I of the city (Sector 1 to 30) is heritage zone where the orders of the Supreme Court need to be honoured. At the same time, development of the city must keep pace with modern day requirement. Trade, commerce, industry, besides residential sector, art, culture, and health infrastructure, must grow.
The city can only grow when we consider vertical development with appropriate infrastructure and other social facilities. As land is limited here and population pressure is growing, so beyond heritage sectors we need to go for planned way of developing infrastructure.
Chandigarh Master Plan 2031 is in the works. The city is investing in a future that is consistent with Le Corbusier. Your take?
The Chandigarh Master Plan has been prepared after lot of deliberations and consultations with stakeholders and keeping the heritage issues and requirement of the city in view. It was in 2015 the master plan was notified. Ten years have gone and the new master plan has to come after 2031. Keeping the Union government’s deregulation norms in mind, we are committed to implementing reforms. A committee of senior officers is examining the planning matter.
In October last year the ‘City Beautiful’ declared itself ‘slum-free’ after years of demolition drives in which it reclaimed more than 500 acres of land. Now what is in the pipeline for the land which has been reclaimed?
The land is available for acquisitions. We have now land to develop the periphery in a planned way. So our strategy is to develop it through the private sector. We are going to auction the sites in transparent manner so that the private developers come in and develop the land, whether for industrial, commercial or residential sector. As far as residential sector is concerned, it will have group housing societies. As certain legislative and other changes need to be done, those are being examined by senior officers. We expect them to compete this process in another few weeks.