The problems in Urban Planning

The problems in Urban Planning

News: This editorial is in context of Urban floods as seen in important cities of North-West India.

Background:
• We will understand where are we going wrong in Urban planning that leads to Urban floods and conclude with a way forward.

What are Urban Floods?
• Urban floods are the inundation of land or property in a built environment, especially in more densely populated areas, caused by rainfall overwhelming the capacity of drainage systems, such as storm sewers.
• In 2011, 31% of India’s population lived in urban areas. It is expected to be 50% in 2050.
• Lack of autonomy for Municipal Bodies – While 12th schedule of Indian constitution devolved several functions associated with Urban planning to the local bodies. However, state governments holds power and influence at most levels.
• Concerns with recruitment of staff – Vacancies are observed in several positions as state government do not make timely appointments. It hampers decision making and working of the civic bodies.
• Lack of Town planners – 42% of the sanctioned positions of town planners are vacant.
• The implementation of GST also impacted tax collections of local bodies as several taxes such as octroi, entry tax and advertisement tax were done away with it.
• Property tax which is major component still contributes relatively lesser as a percentage of GDP. India – 0.15% while OECD nations 1%.
• Other issues in Urban planning such as failure of Urban bodies to prevent unauthorized construction, failure to prevent encroachments of water bodies and allowing construction of houses in low-lying areas (where majorly poor people reside) have also contributed to rise in Urban floods.

What are steps taken by Government?
• The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued the National Guidelines on Urban Flood Disaster Management.
• The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has released the first dedicated stormwater drainage manual. The manual has taken inspiration from established international codes of practice and has been modified to suit the local conditions.
• Important schemes such as Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) and Smart Cities Mission for capacity building of urban local bodies.

Way Forward
• Give real powers to local bodies to implement what they think is right for building resilient urban city infrastructure.
• Restore traditional water bodies and have comprehensive stormwater drainage masterplan.
• Access flood carrying capacity of Indian cities and prepare urban flood risk database.
Source – Indian Express, Times of India, The Hindu