CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has formed ad hoc Urban Development Authorities for Tiruppur and Coimbatore as a precursor to establishing dedicated authorities. Once constituted, the new entities will function along the lines of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), formed 47 years ago.
The DMK government, in its Budget, announced that the State will set up new urban development bodies for Madurai, Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Hosur to facilitate better planning. Accordingly, a Government Order, on Monday, said an advisory council and a planning cell will be set up to advise and assist the two ad hoc bodies.
The exact composition of the authorities will be finalised when amendments to the Town and Country Planning Act are enacted. Both ad hoc Urban Development Authorities will be chaired by the Housing Secretary with the respective district collectors being nominated as the vice-chairman.
Each will have representatives from finance, transport, industries, public works, municipal administration and water supply, rural development departments and panchayat raj. There will also be representation from the Director of Town and Country Planning, corporation commissioner, TNHB managing director, TN Water Supply and Drainage Board MD and Chennai Metro Rail Limited managing director.
Experts say govt’s intention unclear
Each ad hoc authority will also have two members appointed by the State in housing, trade and industry sectors. A person from a reputed academic institute involved in planning and a full-time member secretary will also be appointed. The CMDA too was first constituted as an ad hoc body in 1972. It became a statutory body in 1974 after the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act was amended. While Monday’s G.O. has been welcomed, it has also attracted criticism.
Former Anna University professor of urban engineering KP Subramanian said most of the members of the urban development authorities are only State-level bureaucrats. “There is no place for people’s representatives or professionals,” he said. “Instead of appointing Housing Secretary as chairman, the development authority should have an elected member as chairman or suitable person from the local area who could provide close attention, care.
Similarly, member secretary of the development authority should be a technical head who should be a town planner with appropriate subordinates, as in other States and Union Territories,” said Association of Professional Town Planners (APTP) president KM Sadanand. “It’s not clear what the government intends to do. Its functions and powers may be totally different from authorities constituted under the Town and Country Planning Act such as the CMDA, local planning authorities and the New Town Development Authorities. It may require a separate act in line with the Karnataka Urban Development Authority Act,” added Subramanian.
A dding that functions of the Urban Development Authorities may be to prepare housing and other micro-level schemes to execute them in five years and sell plots, he said, in short, the proposed UDAs may function like real estate developers. The existing Coimbatore and Tiruppur local planning authorities may continue to function, adding one more authority to the same area. This may only augment institutional dis-coordination, Sadanand said.