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        State government has given approval for the revised draft of Second Master Plan (SMP) for the city submitted by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA). But time given to the public and civic groups to come out with suggestions for draft modifications is hardly enough to make constructive changes in the master plan, complain experts and NGOs working to improve the living conditions in the city.

        After the first Master Plan that was published in 1975, it was not until 1995 when the draft of its second version came to be circulated. But taking objections to some of its contents, eminent NGOs, especially groups like CAG, approached the court and got the SMP stayed.

        After the High Court vacated the stay with directions to the CMDA in 2001, the planning authority has submitted a revised draft of SMP to the government in January 2007. In few days time, the revised draft will be circulated freely among the public, NGOs and the civic activists for eliciting their comments and suggestions as inputs for the CMDA to prepare the final draft. 'According to 74th Amendment of the Constitution, the public should be involved in every step of town planning and hence, giving a token period of 60 days for the civic society to send in their suggestions and inputs on a voluminous document with 20 chapters and running into 450 pages of complex issues of development will not do any good to the authority,' complains M G Devasahayam, managing trustee, Citizens Alliance for Sustainable Living (SUSTAIN). First to understand the document and then to come out with prescriptions and policy inputs even among experts will take nearly a year's time, he reveals.

        But CMDA, he says, has replied that it wrote to Municipalities and departments to get their response and feedback when questioned if views of the larger public and civic groups were taken into account while formulating the SMP draft. Citing the 74th Amendment, Devasahayam says the new provision had envisaged the setting up of a Metropolitan Planning Committee, an elected body comprising local councillors drawn from Municipalities. 'In normal course, after preparing the draft plan, the CMDA should invite public opinion and consultations. Then prepare a revised draft for submission to the MPC which, in turn, should go to the public for a final consultation before okaying the final document,' he explains. Being a nominated body, CMDA should take up only the work of a secretariat, while the Metropolitan Planning Committee should devise master plans and development projects, he avers.

        Expected to touch 1.25 crore by 2026, the population in Chennai Metro Area is rising at a dramatic pace. At present, there are 71 lakh people living in CMA which is expected to go up to 100 lakh by 2016, according to CMDA figures. Given the constraint in space, the spectre of looming crisis across sectors like housing, water supply, traffic management, infrastructure and town planning can not be tackled by the CMDA alone, which in a way is not directly accountable to the public, say civic groups and well-meaning NGOs. Master Plans are devised for a 20-year period and hence they should be prepared with foresight taking into consideration many issues like the judicious use of land, preserving the eco-system, expanding road-connectivity and newer challenges in city planning, says Rajesh Rangarajan at Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG). Criticising the 60-days time limit for public consultations on Second Master Plan, he says the duration is totally inadequate for across the board deliberations by stakeholders like city planners, architects, NGOs and civil society on how to fulfill the aspirations of the citizens in the next 20 years.

        'Instead of top-down approach, the CMDA should have adopted bottom-up method to elicit views from ward councillors at the grass-roots level for the draft plan. The very format of the report does not inspire confidence and lacks foresight,' he adds. Another civic activist G Dattatri at SUSTAIN complains that CMDA is duty-bound to constitute Metropolitan Planning Committee as per the 74th Amendment of the Constitution. 'The amendment requires the powers of town planning to be transferred to this MPC which should be formed by elected members of the local bodies. Being an executive body, CMDA has no representation from the public,' he states.

        However, he urges CMDA to take proactive steps in publishing the SMP as widely as possible to make it known to the public and civic groups. 'The draft of the master plan should incorporate valid suggestions and the authority should amend it if there are genuine objections from the society,' he avers.

        Rejecting the concerns of NGOs, a top official at the CMDA says they are jumping into conclusions. 'Who says that time limit for public consultation on the draft plan is 60 days? For, the management has not yet decided on the duration for citizens and groups to send in their inputs.'

        The draft SMP will be notified in the gazette shortly, after which advertisements will be given in leading dailies asking the public and civic groups to avail the copies of the document for their useful suggestions. Currently in printing, the copy price of Second Master Plan is yet to be fixed.