Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority master plan marred by errors
Some 300 water bodies were missing from the integrated master plan and full tank levels of several water bodies had shrunk.
Hyderabad: The HMDA is suddenly finding that its draft integrated master plan is riddled with a minimum of 6,000 errors, and all the data is not yet in.
During an error rectification drive some time back, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority found that the integrated master plan had as many as 4,000 errors. These included more than 2,000 land-use issues and roads in over 900 HMDA approved layouts.
Some 300 water bodies were missing from the integrated master plan and full tank levels of several water bodies had shrunk. Citing this, the HMDA constituted 25 teams comprising town planning officials and village revenue officers to verify the errors. Of these 25, 15 teams have submitted their reports after cross-checking on the ground.
The data from these 15 reports were compiled, the HMDA found that the number of errors had jumped to 6,000. HMDA officials are waiting for the rest of the teams to submit their reports. It is feared that the number of errors would touch the 10,000 mark.
The integrated master plan was intended to bring uniformity in land use and zoning regulations apart from incorporating the various projects which would have been useful for the next 25 years.
Sources said the preparation of the master plan began four years ago but was delayed due to apathy of officials. After preparing the draft proposal of five master plans and integrating them, officials found that the land use had been changed as they had been integrated in different formats. Sources said that the during the error rectification process, it was revealed that some HMDA officials together with property owners had made zonal and layout adjustments.
A senior official said the HMDA could not figure out the actual reason behind the increase of errors in the master plan. A clear picture would emerge only after compiling all the 25 rectified reports submitted the special teams. He said aplan of action for error rectification will be taken based on the types of mistakes and the methods followed by each team to fix them.