As we speak, a highly-paid group of international consultants sits hard at work over the Masterplan 2035, the culmination of three years’ worth of work. The draft notification of the Common Zoning Regulations, brought out by the Urban Development Department, undermines the efforts of the Masterplan team, with the former effectively stating that expertise on developing the quality of urban life rests solely within their dusty corridors and cubicles. Even the most ardent supporter of the UDD is likely to baulk at this! This draft notification, with its many sections, renders the exercise of a city Master Plan almost redundant.
To make matters worse, this notification, if implemented, stands applicable to all towns and cities across Karnataka, with marginal and insignificant differentiations. It implies that the plan outputs of a small town is essentially the same as that of a metropolitan like Bengaluru. It’s the equivalent of giving Crocin to a cancer patient and demanding he recover because the same medication did wonders for a headache in someone else!
It also seems as if someone has forgotten to tell the UDD that elected representatives of the municipality give citizens an active voice in town planning, all thanks to the 74th Amendment and the establishment of the Municipal Planning Committee.
The most obnoxious part of this notification is, of course, the attempt to convert all residential roads into commercial and even industrial zones, through a faulty interpretation of the mixed zone concept. This term implies that residences should have quick and easy access to commercial centres in the vicinity, with smaller geographical areas earmarked, separately, for commercial and residential use. That is hardly the same as allowing a mix on all roads! Simple logic dictates that converting residential areas into commercial ones destroys the quality of life through traffic congestion, noise, pollution and decreasing levels of safety. The courts concurred with this view in the previous public interest litigation.
Even more remarkable is that the BDA and UDD have agreed with the ruling, made evident via the affidavits submitted to the courts. Under these circumstances, the current notification indicates either an inept administration or total disdain for the rule of law. Either way, the UDD and their bosses have a lot to answer to.
Vijayan Menon, Member of Citizen Action Forum
