THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has passed the buck to the corporation council in finalizing draft master plan-2040.
LSG minister M V Govindan Master told the assembly on June 7 that the draft master plan has to be discussed and finalized by the council.
He said that Centre allocated Rs 60 lakhs so far in two installments for preparing the city’s master plan.
The Centre had approved the proposal to prepare the master plan under formulation of GIS-based master plans for AMRUT cities at a cost of Rs 75 lakh.
The draft master plan-2040 of Thiruvananthapuram city was expected to be readied in July 2020 and the city corporation initiated discussions at ward sabhas for it.
The town planning department was able to complete data collection, stakeholder consultation, compilation of data from land use survey, socio-economic survey and meeting of 18 working groups and expert-level committee meetings to finalize proposals to be included in draft master plan 2040.
With the council shirking discussion on master plan owing to past bitter experiences, the town planning committee mooted recommendations for change in the interim development order.
Despite best efforts, the town planning standing committee failed to garner the support of both ruling and opposition members on two fronts: finalizing a new city master plan or in getting modified provisions of interim development order approved.
Meanwhile, Neyyattinkara municipality got the department’s approval to notify its new master plan.
Town planning committee repeatedly pointed out that people were finding it difficult to construct houses in certain areas and modifications were needed.
The councillors digressed from the topic and the ruling council clearly hinted that it was not interested in modifying the interim development order.