DEHRADUN: The civil society groups have joined hands with the citizens of Doon demanding a revisit to the Dehradun Master Plan, 2041.

As the Master plan is being imposed from the Centre, the plan intrinsically is fraught with inherent contradictions and complications and is unfavourable to needs of the hill people of the hill city like Dehradun, they assert. 

They have shot off a series of letters to Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority(MDDA), raising their objections over the Masterplan, 2041.

The residents demand thorough engagement of citizens of Doon to make the master plan citizens and hill-centric.

The master plan needs overhauling making it hill-friendly catering to the needs of the city.

They have sought extension of the date for the submitting objections by three months.  

But the Pushkar Singh Dhami Government and MDDA have yet to take a call on objections and demands raised by the citizens in the letter.

The first letter has been signed by five representatives including SC Ghildial, the first town planner of Uttarakhand state after its formation.

The second letter was submitted based on the feedback received from the panelists and audience/participants during the recently held citizen engagement and public policy program here.

The debate was organised by the Centre of Public Policy at Doon University, INTACH and SDC Foundation. Dr. AC Joshi, NTPC Chair Professor and SDC Foundation founder Anoop Nautiyal have also have submitted this letter based on the extensive outcome of the program that was held recently at Doon University.

During the debate on Dehradun Master Plan 2041, the residents of Doon raised many questions and posed these to  Chief Town Planner Shashi Mohan Srivastava, who was present in the debate.

People raised many questions on MDDA in this program, ranging from scarcity of land and over- construction in the city which is bursting at the seams.

Many Residents Welfare Associations’ representatives of the city and a large number of common citizens took part in the discussion.

The discussion was moderated by NTPC Chair Professor AC Joshi and SDC Foundation's Anup Nautiyal. First and foremost, people asked that there is no land left in the city.

Then where will the buildings, proposed to be built four times as compared to today's number, be raised in the city under the master plan?

According to the master plan, there is a proposal to construct 4.37 lakh buildings in Doon by 2041 to keep pace with the rise in population.

In Contrast, at present the number of buildings in the city is said to be 1.25 lakh.

In this situation, from where will the water be made available for the population and how will the traffic system be maintained in the city?

At this, the work of widening the road has already been put on the backburner by relaxing the norms.

Leading the debate on master plain, Uttarakhand’s first Chief Town Planner SC Ghildial said the draft master plan is not favorable to Doon.

The master plans prepared and implemented by MDDA earlier also were wrongly implemented, he observed.

He said the previous master plan was passed under Section 12 of the Act. Whereas this section is not for passing the master plan, but for taking suggestions from the common people.

“People also raised questions that when the draft was prepared, the suggestions of the common people were not taken, whereas it has been clearly stated in the draft.

Chief Town Planner SM Srivastava tried to answer people's questions, but people were not satisfied with his answers.

Srivastava said the draft master plan has not been prepared only for Dehradun.

It has been prepared for 500 cities across the country including 7 cities of Uttarakhand as per the guidelines of the Central Government.

He said that in the guide line it was asked to arrange affordable house land, mixed land use and high density, so all these arrangements have been made.

Although people said that the geographical location of Dehradun is different from other cities. It is not possible to make a master plan of Doon like one proposed for 500 cities.

Being a hill city, its geographical location is different from other cities. INTACH convenor Lokesh Ohri raised the issue of heritage sites in Doon.

He said that not a single heritage has been identified in the master plan. Nor is there any mention of how to preserve them.

Architect Bharti Jain sought extension of the last date for giving suggestions by three months.

Also he raised the question that the master plan has been made on the basis of the population of 2011, whereas now the population is very high.

Former Director of Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy Sanjeev Chopra and NTPC Chair Professor AC Joshi also pointed out the shortcomings of the master plan.

He talked about de-mineralization of the city and talked about making satellite towns so that traffic overload could be controlled.

While conducting the program, Anup Nautiyal of SDC Foundation clarified the situation regarding the master plan and asked many questions to the Chief Town Planner and other speakers.