By : Bolledu Vengal Rao 11511004 MURP 1st yr IIT Roorkee

An Act to provide for the regulation of planned growth of

land use and development and for the making and execution of town planning schemes in the State of Karnataka

 The Town Planning Department is responsible for urban

planning and the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act 1961 forms the comprehensive legal framework for urban planning of the state. The Acts statement of objectives specifies that Physical planning with co-ordinated effort on a large scale is necessary if the people are to live in a better, healthier and happier environment. The statement also includes the responsibility: To preserve and improve existing recreational facilities another amenities contributing towards balanced use of land. To direct the future growth of populated areas in the state with a view to ensuring desirable standards of environmental health and hygiene and creating facilities for the orderly growth of industries and commerce, there by promoting general standards of living in the state.

WHEREAS it is necessary and expedient, (i) to create conditions favourable for planning and re planning of the urban and rural areas in the State of Karnataka, with a view to providing full civic and social amenities for the people in the State, (ii) to stop uncontrolled development of land due to land speculation and profiteering in land, (iii) to preserve and improve existing recreational facilities and other amenities contributing towards balanced use of land; and (iv) to direct the future growth of populated areas in the State, with a view to ensuring desirable standards of environmental health and hygiene, and creating facilities for the orderly growth of industry and commerce, thereby promoting generally standards of living in the State;

 AND WHEREAS in order to ensure that town planning

schemes are made in a proper manner and their execution is made effective, it is necessary to provide that a local authority shall prepare a development plan for the entire area within its jurisdiction; AND WHEREAS it is necessary and expedient to consolidate and amend the law relating to town planning for the aforesaid and other purposes hereinafter appearing;

 Karnataka has a good tradition in urban planning

but important aspects of the environment have not been incorporated as key elements in the legislations pertaining to urban planning. Ideally, urban planning should follow the regional planning (i.e. economic and physical planning)exercise.

 the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, 1961,

clearly indicates that

Physical planning has to precede economic planning as

otherwise cities, towns and villages in our country will grow to unmanageable sizes without proper planning resulting in unhealthy surroundings.

 The Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act

1961makes provision for the preparation of two types of

plans.
An interim plan called Outline Development Plan

(section12 of the Act) in the first instance, followed by a Detailed Comprehensive Development Plan (section 21 of the Act).The Karnataka Planning Authority Rules, 1965(subsequently amended in 1976, 1977, 1980, 1986 and1988) lists out the details of reports to be prepared and surveys to be carried out for a Comprehensive Development Plan in Rules 41 and 42.

 the Outline Development Plan for the local planning area

which is prepared first. Outline Development Plan broadly indicates the proposed zoning of land use for residential, commercial, industrial, recreational, educational and other public purposes, proposed circulation pattern and a set of zoning regulations. Then the Comprehensive Development Plan is prepared indicating there in the comprehensive zoning of land use together with zoning regulations, complete street pattern, improvements to existing road patterns, reservation of areas for public purpose such as parks, playgrounds and other recreational uses, public buildings, institutions, areas for housing, etc. Finally, the town planning schemes are prepared for the planning area for implementation of the proposals of Comprehensive Development Plan. This is a time consuming process which takes nearly 20 years.

 The Karnataka State Legislature has passed an amendment

to the above mentioned Act in February 2004 to do away with Comprehensive Development Plan and Outline Development Plan. The amended provision prescribes preparation Master Plan by all the Planning Authorities in one stage. Added to this there is provision for Interim Master Plan pending preparation of the Master Plan for regulating land use pattern and road pattern. Further there is a time limit of one year for preparation of Master Plan. Another very important feature is that it is mandatory to revise the Master Plan once in every ten years.

 The two major plans prepared for urban planning, namely

Outline Development Plan and Comprehensive Development Plan, do not have explicit environmental components nor an environmental master plan. Although there are guidelines on the proportion of land to be used for various purposes like residential, parks and open spaces, etc., environmental planning per se is missing. A problem map, though prepared, as a part of the development plan, explicit environmental components are not addressed. But it considers items such as the availability and use of land (factors like slums, marshy lands and low-lying areas are included) rather than all the environmental components.

 A study map covering the climatologically aspects like

predominant wind direction, rainfall and temperature variation is prepared, and for proposed industrial areas consideration of treatment of industrial wastes/ effluent and nearby natural lakes and reservoirs, etc. are included; but the study maps does not cover all ecological characteristics.
The pressure of growing urban population results demand for

additional land, which may result in using up agricultural land on the periphery of urban areas
Planning with high-density areas, however, also on social

aspects and cannot be adopted in all categories of towns. During the preparation of the Outline Development Plan and Comprehensive Development the Town Planning Department does provide for high density areas in a few locations of a city

 The physical Comprehensive Development Plan is based

on conventional time series population projection, and is not a part of the regional plan exercise. Thus the Comprehensive Development Plan does not consider the resource base, impact of competitive advantages of regions to attract investment, and regional migration trends based on hierarchy of settlements. As investment potential of an area is not comprehensively assessed, and only a land allocation and use prescription is made, the actual growth rarely follows the original assumptions and infringements of regulations are common.

 It is noteworthy that at no stage of planning is

environmental assessment or estimation of likely environmental damages and mitigation methods a part of the long term urban planning. Such a system requires a detailed understanding and study of hydrological characteristics of the region, air circulation patterns, study of ecological characteristics, etc. Similarly at the time of the preparation of town planning schemes, sometimes involving huge residential development, Environmental impact assessment is not prepared even on an informal basis if not according to the rigour of Ministry of Environment and Forests recommendations.

 The main reasons probably are the absence of legal

requirements /guidelines and absence of trained manpower/ and facilities. The Urban Development Department/ Planning Authorities prepare the schemes based on planning standards including accommodation, accessibility, affordability, safety, density standards, etc. Thus there is some effort to create a good urban environment and optimum use of valuable agricultural land, in lieu of the legal environmental guidelines.

 Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964

Karnataka Slum Clearance Area Act, 1974

Bangalore Development Authority Act, 1976 Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, 1976

Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority

Act, 1985 Karnataka Urban Development Authorities Act, 1987