The Hindu Business Line : TN looking at new Act for development of urban areas

Chennai, Nov. 2 The Tamil Nadu Government plans to amend the Town and Country Planning Act to strengthen the role of local bodies and promote co-ordination between them for planned development.

Addressing a seminar on the second master plan for Chennai Metropolitan Area, Mr R. Sellamuthu, Principal Secretary, Tamil Nadu Housing and Urban Development, said that the State Government would bring in a major amendment to the Act or bring in a new Act in the place of the present Town and Country Planning Act that would provide for better development of urban areas.

Metropolitan panel

CMDA officials said that the Chennai Metropolitan Area spread over 1,189 sq km, included the corporation area of 176 sq km, apart from 16 municipalities, 20 town panchayats and 214 villages in 10 panchayat unions. The amendment would provide for the formation of a Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) to co-ordinate the activities of these local bodies. The administrative role of these bodies would also be strengthened.

Dr M. Ramachandran, Secretary, Union Ministry of Urban Development, welcomed the proposed amendment and hoped that in line with the 74th amendment of the Constitution which called for the change in the Town and Country Planning Act, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority would act as the Secretariat of the MPC.

Experience the world over has shown that challenges of metropolitan development cannot be handled by just decentralisation of local activities but by decentralised growth by creating new growth centres.

Satellite towns

This would come from developing satellite towns with a strong economic base and linking them with Chennai through well developed infrastructure. Housing is another major area of concern and a casualty of urban development that has to be addressed through planning.

In Delhi for instance, where over 44,000 migrant families are added every year, over 55 per cent of the population lives in slums. In the National Capital Region only about a third of the population is in planned settlements. Over a third of the population lives in the slums and an equal number in unauthorised colonies.

Redevelopment is an important component of ensuring planned housing for a large segment of the population, he said.

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