Berhampur (Odisha), Apr 22: Odisha government has decided to prepare a master plan for all 106 towns in the next two years for monitoring the land use control in urban areas.
Preparation of master plan through the Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping and remote sensing survey was taken up in 53 towns, a senior official said.
Development plans for five places - Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Khurda, Jatani and Choudwar - has already been completed and implemented, said Director of Town Planning, Prasant Kumar Patnaik.
Similarly, draft plans for another nine towns - Puri, Konark, Sambalpur, Burla, Hirakud, Jharsuguda, Brajaraj Nagar, Belpahar and Paradip have been prepared and objections were invited from the people of the concerned towns on the draft plans, he said during a visit here.
Patnaik said the data base was being prepared for another 20 towns after GIS mapping and survey conducted through remote sensing.
“The draft master plan of all these towns will be prepared soon, while the government has decided to prepare the mater plan for all 106 towns by the end of 2014-15,” he said.
Master plan for the towns is essential for the preparation and monitoring the land use control. Comprehensive Development Plan is also required for town planning and to provide basic infrastructure to people, sources added.
Even though the preparation of master plan for town development has to be developed in every two to three years, development plan in several towns are not prepared in the last several decades.
For example, the last master plan for Berhampur was prepared in 1969, said a senior officer.
Due to lack of the comprehensive development plan, unauthorised colonies in the towns are mushrooming haphazardly, while people are facing numerous difficulties in constructing houses.
Traffic snarls and scarcity of drinking water in the new areas of the towns are witnessed every day with the absence of proper master plan for a town, officials said.
