Patna will soon have a separate authority for the planned development of rural areas, which have the potential to be developed as urban centres.
The urban development and housing department principal secretary Amrit Lal Meena hinted at constitution of such an authority at a conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on "Bihar Real Estate Summit 2015: Building a Better Tomorrow" at a hotel on Friday.
The proposal was under consideration. "Areas that don't fall under municipal limits or are not covered under rural planning but have the potential to be developed as urban centres, need a separate agency to approve building maps and to cater to other requirements of habitants," he said.
He said the urban development and housing department has already cleared the decks for approval of house map in the capital and adjoining areas. To a query, Meena said the municipal corporation, empowered to approve building maps, has, lately been strengthened. "We have provided dedicated architects and IT personnel to the municipal corporation to accelerate map approval in the capital. Online approval of house map in the capital will also become a reality within a month," Meena said, adding that Patna's master plan was awaiting cabinet approval. To dispel confusion that Patna would lag behind three Bihar cities that made it to the smart city list, he said: "It's true Patna doesn't figure in the smart city list, but that won't hamper development."
The urban development and housing department has already approved the master plan to develop Patna as a metropolitan city. Sources said Patna's draft master plan was put on the public domain last year for suggestions or objections from over two million residents after the state cabinet declared the "plan area" in the proposed Master Plan 2031.
According to the proposal, the city will be spread over 1,167sqkm. Over 600sqkm has been marked as urban area, which includes setting of two satellite towns to cater to urbanisation and population growth in the next two decades. The city will have over 400 sqkm as green cover. Over 16 per cent of the area is proposed for roads.
Meena said the urban planning board has already cleared master plan for Bodhgaya and Rajgir and it would soon be sent for cabinet approval.
According to the proposal, Rajgir would be spread over 517sqkm where over 27.7sqkm has been marked as urban area and 443.3sqkm as rural.
Similarly, the master plan for Bodhgaya would be spread over 83.75sqkm. Thirty revenue villages in Bodhgaya block, three in Gaya block and the areas under Bodhgaya urban local bodies will be part of the new master plan. The master plan for Muzaffarpur and Biharsharif have also been prepared and approved by the urban planning board.
Meena appealed to building developers in Patna to adopt a slum area each and provide pucca houses to inhabitants. He mentioned the Centre's scheme for slum-dwellers under which builderscan use remaining land for their business after providing permanent shelter to slum-dwellers.
Meena said work was under way to develop a master plan for 15 other cities and a master plan for each of the 8,392 gram panchayats for better delivery of schemes.
