‘Structured, inclusive urban growth, a must’

The government machinery and the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) have been exploring various ways of overcoming them through collaborative partnerships. 

A two-day city-level workshop – the UK-India joint network on sustainable cities and urbanization in India, was organised by the MCCI where the stakeholders felt that in-depth research alone can lead to solutions by forging private and public partnerships.  

In his address on ‘Visioning Chennai as a Global City,” Dharmendra Pratap Yadav, Housing and Urban Development Secretary and Vice-Chairman, CMDA, said “we are in a confused state. We do not know what is right and what is wrong. Everyone’s problem seems a real problem and what they perceive as solution, we don’t know. Observatories, such as these, help as governments seem to be working in isolation.” 

Calling for an end to the tussle between the civil society and the government, he said it is time to focus on partnering initiatives instead of remaining antagonistic. Tamil Nadu, with its history of urban planning, has been a pioneer in this front. 

Given the formation of the CMDA through the 1971 Act, the  town and country planning division came into existence, laying the foundation for urban planning. As many as 128 local town planning authorities exist and most of them have been covered in the two master plans that have been brought out so far. Remaining areas would feature in the proposed master plan. 

But, when it comes to urban planning, opinions vary and majority of the solutions are impressionistic rather than backed by scientific data, he lamented, pointing to the Red Hill catchment area getting to be part of the second master plan. Over 15 villages were covered in this plan but owing to the presence of water bodies, the catchment area has been declared as a ‘no development zone’. 

Though this may seem good, its impact on ecology, growth of industries and other development aspects have not been considered, Yadav said, even as he sought to stress on the definitive need to preserve water-bodies. South Chennai too has water catchment areas along the coast but there again certain regulations had to be researched more. To have larger plots, smaller or not have to be evaluated given the densification issues, were all the aspects that needed assessment, he noted. 

Horizontal as well as vertical growth have problems of sustainability and with equity issues taking a major beating, it is the disadvantaged section of people who bore the brunt, Yadav said, dwelling on the issues of set-back space, living space and societal framework.