JOIN USMaster Plan must consider Bengaluru as a living entity
The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) recently withdrew the draft Revised Master Plan (RMP) - 2031, with the aim of reviewing it. A critical document for the city’s future, the RMP has been delayed for years. Experts have drawn attention to several gaps in the plan.
What are the changes that need to be incorporated in the plan so that the city’s future expansion is designed smartly, striking a balance between development, environment and equitable growth? DH takes a deep dive into the issue, interacting with a cross-section of Bengalureans.
Kathyayini Chamaraj, Executive Trustee of CIVIC Bengaluru, has this to say: “The basic question that needs answering is why the BDA is still framing the Master Plans when the planning powers of the BDA should have been automatically transferred as per the 74th Constitutional Amendment (74th CAA) to the Metropolitan Planning Committee.”
The RMP 2031, she points out, “has been prepared by consultants without a hint of the bottom-up planning process through the Area Sabhas and ward committees required under the 74th CAA.”
Moreover, the history of master planning in Bengaluru has been one of merely regularising the violations that have taken place, as unplanned urbanisation has outpaced the implementation of the grand vision plans. Kathyayini recalls that the RMP 2015 had waxed eloquently about addressing long-term sustainable development by incorporating natural and hydraulic balances, social equity through equal access to infrastructure facilities, safe decent houses for the poor, and conserving Bengaluru’s heritage.
“Why then do we have burning lakes, floods inundating homes, squalid migrant workers’ homes, and the green heritage reduced to a mere 3% from 70%? Whatever happened to the setting up of a Monitoring Committee to continuously oversee the implementation of the Master Plan promised in RMP 2015?” she wonders.
Rohit V, a resident of BTM Layout, says “The Master Plan should address all the problems that Bengaluru is facing right now. The uneven development of the city must come to focus, it is better to find solutions for the existing problems than building new concrete jungles. The waterlogging, absence of footpath and the infamous traffic are portrayed as the main crisis. This need to be considered in the next plan.” For Sayant Vijay, a research scholar, “The implementation of the master plan is affected by the changes of government. Master plan-2031 was initiated during 2016 and the changes in the administration delayed it.”
“Ordinary citizens are not aware of the draft,” he notes. “Before implementing the draft plan, the authority should consult the people. But that is not happening. Most of the decisions taken for the development of the city are not with the consideration of sustainable development. I wish the new plan brings the beauty of the ‘garden city’ back.”
The Karnataka government has been appointing para-statal agencies such as the BDA to create the Master Plan, which is illegal, says Sandeep Anirudhan from Citizens Agenda for Bengaluru. There is no capacity building, no urban planners or transport planners are employed by the city government or any agency that plans for the city.
As a result, every intervention in the city is on a project-oriented approach, which breaks down the functionality that has evolved over centuries. At one level, he adds, this leads to mindless projects, and at another level, it leads to the collapse of entire systems such as the Rajakaluve-linked lake system that ensured the city’s water security for centuries.