Shillong, Jan 15: The Meghalaya state government has announced its decision to implement the Town and Country Planning Scheme, which seeks to bring all stakeholders under one roof for better coordination when it comes to the implementation of town and countryside planning in the state.
The decision was approved by the state cabinet today.
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Addressing media persons, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma said, “What this scheme does is that it brings all the stakeholders that include the local traditional institutes, the rangbah shnongs, nokmas, raijs, elakas. It also brings the autonomous district councils (ADCs), it brings the public on board and it also brings in the different departments that are involved on board and all the stakeholders that are involved in those particular areas and then this allows discussions among the different stakeholders to really plan and discuss of what kind of development programmes should take place.”
“And obviously if only one stakeholder does not agree to a particular plan then that plan does not move forward,” he maintained.
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On the reason behind the decision, Sangma said, “In the master plan for the Shillong area, there is almost a 290 square kms area that is there, which includes Mawkhanu and Diengpasoh areas. What is happening in these areas, is that at the local level, at certain department levels, at the district council level, at the dorbar shnong level, individuals are developing the areas as per their own desires and as per their own plans. So coordination is not there for the town and country planning in the municipal area and beyond the town areas but because of the urbanization that is taking place now, there is a need to ensure that there is coordination between the different stakeholders.”
“So in the past, we were not having the coordination between the stakeholders, everybody was doing it at their own individual level which was creating more of an unplanned growth of the new countryside areas and the new town areas that are developing now, which is basically urbanisation,” he stated.
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Stating that the scheme will allow a platform for a more coordinated effort towards town and country planning, Sangma said, “…in no way this particular scheme is going to intervene into any kind of rights of any particular departments or the rangbah shnong or the district council. It only acts as a platform to allow the different stakeholders to come together.”
“There needs for amendment to be made and of course, it will be coordinated by the urban affairs department and to introduce this particular scheme and the process to allow this planning to take place along with stakeholders, there will be an amendment in the Meghalaya Town and Country Planning Act and ordinance is being brought in to allow this scheme to be introduced, to allow coordination for planning in the town and countryside planning, which the scheme will do. This is being with all the stakeholders and once clearance is being given by everyone then the plan will move forward,” he stated.
(Newmai News Network)
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