Plan panel acted in haste?

PATNA: Though the Patna Metropolitan Planning Committee (

PMPC

) on Monday approved the Master Plan till 2031, some elected representatives were unhappy with the officials for providing them its copy just two days back and they could not go through it properly.

Mano Kumari, an elected representative from Khagaul said, “There were a few clarifications required and we could not understand the technicalities in two days. We want to know what development work would be taken up in our region. Hence, instead of passing it today, we should have been given at least 10 more days to understand the plan.”

Even PMPC vice-president Sanjay Singh said the Master Plan was approved without everyone’s consent. “It was a forced approval. “We have no idea about the PMPC working and there would be problems in acquiring the land. The apprehensions and objections of the elected representatives should have been taken into account before approving the Plan,” he said.

Urban development and housing department (UDHD) minister

Maheshwar Hazari

had to request the elected representatives to approve the Plan instead of politicizing the issue. “We are already late and further delay will hamper the development work. If we do not approve the plan today, it will send a wrong message,” said Hazari promising the members another meeting after Chhath to discuss their queries.

The minister, when asked, said the plan was not approved in haste because the eastern zone of National Green Tribunal (NGT), in its September 16 order, had stayed the construction of those buildings in Patna which have over 20,000 square metres area. The NGT order put on hold the ongoing construction work on some of chief minster Nitish Kumar’s the pet projects like Bihar Museum, International Convention Centre, Bihar Police Bhavan and Vidhan Sabha annexe building.

Amol Bajaj

, elected representative from

Maner

, however, said it was just because of the NGT order that the government got the plan approved in haste. “PMPC was formed more than three months back, but not a single meeting was called to discuss the master plan. But when the construction of several important government projects got stopped, the government got it approved.”

The NGT had also questioned the constitution of PMPC stating that it lacked technical experts. However, both UDHD minister as well as principal secretary said the committee was formed as per the guidelines of the Constitution and gave the example of Hyderabad, where two-thirds of the members were elected representatives.

The PMPC is headed by UDHD minister and its vice-president was elected from among the elected representatives of local bodies. There are altogether 30 elected representatives, 18 from urban local bodies and 12 from panchayats. It also has six special guests besides senior government officials representing different departments like UDHD, finance, road construction, planning and development, industries, panchayati raj and public health and engineering department.