MUDA has published a draft Master Plan for Mysore Nanjangud Local Planning Area - 2031 (MPM) and invited comments from the public. The following are the comments of Mysore Grahakara Parishat on the draft plan.
When we asked our members (Dr. Bhamy V. Shenoy, Maj.Gen.(Rtd.) S.G. Vombatkere, Prof. R. Chandra Prakash, Dr. H.A.B. Parpia, H.R. Bapu Satyanarayana, Prof. B.S. Shankara, B.J. Rao, Nitin Ningaiah, Usha Subramanian) to send their comments on MPM so that we can consolidate them to forward to MUDA, we were surprised at the depth and breadth of their criticism of the MPM. We realized that the draft plan has major problems and these problems can not be repaired without undoing it (The fault lies not just with MUDA, but the system and the implementing agencies - MCC, KSRTC, etc.- also). So Mysore Grahakara Parishat recommends that MUDA should get back to the drawing board with the implementing agencies sand start all over again on a new MPM.
We will not list all the objections to the MPM because the list is too lengthy. Instead we present just six of the major drawbacks of the current MPM:
1. It has no clear vision. It tries to be everything to everyone and ends up by being nothing. It has to choose between an old charm-heritage-tourist attraction future for Mysore or a development-like-Bangalore future.
2. It seems to be based on several incorrect facts. Here are just a few examples. While the current production of solid waste is about 450 tons per day, the MPM assumes that it is only 330 tons per day. Again, according to MPM, the air pollution levels in Mysore have fallen in the last 10 years. With the explosive increase in vehicle population, this is quite unlikely. Once again, according to MPM, Mysore's demand for water was 167 million liters per day in 2010 and the supply was 248 MLD. So we must have a huge surplus of water and the water crisis which the citizens of Mysore have been experiencing is just an illusion! If we had such a large surplus of water, where was the need to spend a huge amount of money on the Kabini project for additional drinking water? Such obviously incorrect figures strain the credibility of the MPM.
3 . The MPM is a single scenario plan. It starts with a set of data such as the population, number of vehicles, amount of garbage produced, etc. at the present time, projects their values 20 years from now and plans a city for those projected values. Even with accurate data, predicting the future is unreliable, but with questionable data (which the MPM seems to be working with), it is pure guesswork. It is essential that a master plan should plan for several alternative scenarios. In case the future does not turn out the way anticipated, one is still prepared. The MPM plans for a city of 20 lakh population in 2031. If it is noticed in the next 5-10 years that the population is growing faster than expected, we will be in a fix. We can not continue wasting money on the MPM since we know that it will be inadequate for the larger population, but we can not change course either, because we have no other plan!
4 . During the last few years, the government has commissioned several studies related to planning for the city such as, low carbon city planning by Atkins, a UK consulting firm, GIS mapping to streamline traffic by a French agency, fifty year plan by Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board, a plan for solid waste management, preserving heritage sites, etc. It is surprising that the Master Plan has not made much use of these earlier studies. Why spend enormous amounts of money on studies if these studies find no place in city planning?
5. To obtain massive aid under the JNNURM project, Mysore city has promised to develop the city in a planned manner. It has developed a Comprehensive Development Plan and it has committed to follow this CDP. The JNNURM CDP also plans for the year 2031. There is no reference to to the JNNURM CDP in the MPM. Will the city’s development follow CDP or MPM?
6. The MPM has several proposals which are hostile to the very idea of good planning. Here are just two examples. It seems to to believe that progress is widening the roads. No attention is paid to the plight of pedestrians and cyclists. Irwin road is proposed to be widened by 3 meters between Medical College and the Arch Gate. If that happens, there will be no footpath at all.
The MPM also permits apartment buildings on single house residential sites. When the area is designed for one-family-per-site scenario, building apartments on these sites would replace each family with 10-15-20 families. How can the infrastructure - roads, parking, water, electricity, sewage, etc. bear this tremendous additional burden? Is this what MPM calls planning?
These defects in the MPM can not be repaired with any amount of patchwork. Therefore, we reiterate that MUDA should start all over again and prepare a new meaningful MPM.
Even with an accurate and sensible MPM, its value and usefulness are still highly suspect. There have been previous development plans, but neither MUDA nor MCC has shown any commitment to these plans. These plans have been more honoured in the breach than in the observance. There have been widespread and massive violations of the plans, but the government just regularizes them and moves along to the next plan. Land use changes are granted at the drop of a hat disregarding the plan. If the government is not serious about implementing a development plan, why does it even make one.
Sreemathi Hariprasad, President, Mysore Grahakara Parishat
When we asked our members (Dr. Bhamy V. Shenoy, Maj.Gen.(Rtd.) S.G. Vombatkere, Prof. R. Chandra Prakash, Dr. H.A.B. Parpia, H.R. Bapu Satyanarayana, Prof. B.S. Shankara, B.J. Rao, Nitin Ningaiah, Usha Subramanian) to send their comments on MPM so that we can consolidate them to forward to MUDA, we were surprised at the depth and breadth of their criticism of the MPM. We realized that the draft plan has major problems and these problems can not be repaired without undoing it (The fault lies not just with MUDA, but the system and the implementing agencies - MCC, KSRTC, etc.- also). So Mysore Grahakara Parishat recommends that MUDA should get back to the drawing board with the implementing agencies sand start all over again on a new MPM.
We will not list all the objections to the MPM because the list is too lengthy. Instead we present just six of the major drawbacks of the current MPM:
1. It has no clear vision. It tries to be everything to everyone and ends up by being nothing. It has to choose between an old charm-heritage-tourist attraction future for Mysore or a development-like-Bangalore future.
2. It seems to be based on several incorrect facts. Here are just a few examples. While the current production of solid waste is about 450 tons per day, the MPM assumes that it is only 330 tons per day. Again, according to MPM, the air pollution levels in Mysore have fallen in the last 10 years. With the explosive increase in vehicle population, this is quite unlikely. Once again, according to MPM, Mysore's demand for water was 167 million liters per day in 2010 and the supply was 248 MLD. So we must have a huge surplus of water and the water crisis which the citizens of Mysore have been experiencing is just an illusion! If we had such a large surplus of water, where was the need to spend a huge amount of money on the Kabini project for additional drinking water? Such obviously incorrect figures strain the credibility of the MPM.
3 . The MPM is a single scenario plan. It starts with a set of data such as the population, number of vehicles, amount of garbage produced, etc. at the present time, projects their values 20 years from now and plans a city for those projected values. Even with accurate data, predicting the future is unreliable, but with questionable data (which the MPM seems to be working with), it is pure guesswork. It is essential that a master plan should plan for several alternative scenarios. In case the future does not turn out the way anticipated, one is still prepared. The MPM plans for a city of 20 lakh population in 2031. If it is noticed in the next 5-10 years that the population is growing faster than expected, we will be in a fix. We can not continue wasting money on the MPM since we know that it will be inadequate for the larger population, but we can not change course either, because we have no other plan!
4 . During the last few years, the government has commissioned several studies related to planning for the city such as, low carbon city planning by Atkins, a UK consulting firm, GIS mapping to streamline traffic by a French agency, fifty year plan by Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board, a plan for solid waste management, preserving heritage sites, etc. It is surprising that the Master Plan has not made much use of these earlier studies. Why spend enormous amounts of money on studies if these studies find no place in city planning?
5. To obtain massive aid under the JNNURM project, Mysore city has promised to develop the city in a planned manner. It has developed a Comprehensive Development Plan and it has committed to follow this CDP. The JNNURM CDP also plans for the year 2031. There is no reference to to the JNNURM CDP in the MPM. Will the city’s development follow CDP or MPM?
6. The MPM has several proposals which are hostile to the very idea of good planning. Here are just two examples. It seems to to believe that progress is widening the roads. No attention is paid to the plight of pedestrians and cyclists. Irwin road is proposed to be widened by 3 meters between Medical College and the Arch Gate. If that happens, there will be no footpath at all.
The MPM also permits apartment buildings on single house residential sites. When the area is designed for one-family-per-site scenario, building apartments on these sites would replace each family with 10-15-20 families. How can the infrastructure - roads, parking, water, electricity, sewage, etc. bear this tremendous additional burden? Is this what MPM calls planning?
These defects in the MPM can not be repaired with any amount of patchwork. Therefore, we reiterate that MUDA should start all over again and prepare a new meaningful MPM.
Even with an accurate and sensible MPM, its value and usefulness are still highly suspect. There have been previous development plans, but neither MUDA nor MCC has shown any commitment to these plans. These plans have been more honoured in the breach than in the observance. There have been widespread and massive violations of the plans, but the government just regularizes them and moves along to the next plan. Land use changes are granted at the drop of a hat disregarding the plan. If the government is not serious about implementing a development plan, why does it even make one.
Sreemathi Hariprasad, President, Mysore Grahakara Parishat