To meet urban challenges, 14 cities to be transformed with new dev plans
LUCKNOW: Given the growing urban requirements, the UP government has decided to develop 14 big cities, including Lucknow, in a new way. The exercise to select a consultant in the housing department for preparing the development plan for these big cities had started, said a government statement on Friday.
“The 14 cities that will be taken up for transformation include Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gorakhpur, the home town of chief minister Yogi Adityanath,” said the statement.
In view of the increasing population, growing number of houses and vehicles and ever-escalating future needs, chief minister Yogi Adityanath has given the nod to make changes in the master plan of these cities. Under this new endeavour, new master plans (city development plans) will be made for 14 cities, including Lucknow.
Apart from this, the master plan of some cities will be amended. In the newly prepared master plan, the beautification and conservation of historical and religious sites, inclusion of ponds, reservoirs and lakes etc. as well as wildlife sanctuaries, reserve forests and other protected areas will be taken care of.
According to the officials of the housing department, the land use of all the areas of the cities will be determined afresh in the master plan to be prepared as per the instructions of the chief minister. The necessary process has been started in this regard.
The statement said that while preparing the master plan, land use would be determined according to the current needs in the cities. All the major structures, including rivers, airports, bus stands and military areas would be displayed in the master plan, which would be GIS-based.
A committee headed by the housing secretary will prepare a proposal to add new things according to the need in the master plan.
It has also been directed to include regional development plans in the new master plan so that the cities concerned do not face any problem in the coming days.