Pitfalls of unplanned urban growth in Assam

Even as an ongoing census exercise in Assam is expected to add more census towns to the map, the persistent unplanned growth of existing urban areas in the state has remained a critical administrative gap. Official data reveals that of the 104 notified cities and towns in the state, master plans have been notified for 77, while master plans for 27 towns are in the draft stage. Master Plans play a crucial role in regulating land use in a notified town for different purposes such as residential, commercial, institutional, transportation, recreational, industrial, roads and drainage networks, waste management, healthcare, etc. When implementation of the Marter Plan gets delayed, growth takes place in mixed and chaotic form, making it difficult for urban authorities to enforce zoning regulation, environmental protection, and infrastructure creation to ensure planned expansion. Various towns in the state now mirror the urban chaos of Guwahati — traffic snarl, waterlogging, and poor waste management in Guwahati as Master Plan implementation missed many target dates. This harsh reality is a grim reminder to the Directorate of Town and Country Planning that notifying the final master plans for the towns is not going to ensure the desired planned growth. One can imagine the accumulation of problems in those towns where the master plans are yet to be notified and enforced. If Master Plans miss their target dates, the goal of transforming all notified towns into climate-resilient cities will remain merely theoretical rather than becoming a practical reality. The mandate for climate-resilient cities requires preparation and creation of an efficient drainage system, conservation of wetlands to address problems of flash floods, creation of urban forests to reduce the heat island effect, etc. The introduction of online building permission is a pragmatic approach to enforce land use planning, as it makes the permission process transparent, easily accessible and faster. Extending the system to all notified towns without delay is essential for the retrospective regularisation of buildings constructed without approved designs and mandatory permissions. Real estate growth in various towns has led to drastic changes in land use patterns. If multi-storeyed apartments or housing complexes come up without the provision of adequate roads, open space for parks and recreation, proper drainage and sewage systems, and adequate public transport connectivity, then there is no escape from problems of waterlogging and other chronic urban dysfunctions. In some towns, accumulated civic stress has already reached such a stage that solutions like the construction of flyovers have not been able to resolve persistent traffic congestion. Undertaking projects in a piecemeal manner cannot contribute much to planned urban growth. Projects such as constructing an efficient drainage network require implementation phases as outlined in the Master Plan. Still, delays in implementation due to the lack of capacity of the implementing agencies or gaps in detailed project reports and timely utilisation of funds leave a cascading impact, delaying all phases. Often, delays in the timely submission of utilisation certificates result in the postponement of subsequent instalments. This situation calls for prioritising the capacity building of civic authorities in project planning and execution. When a particular area of a city or town witnesses growth in terms of settlement of people, commercial activities or institutional activities that attract more migrant populations to these areas, the authorities cannot afford to delay enforcing the land use and zoning regulations, as it would only render the existing master plan infructuous. Creating a new master plan for an area becomes challenging after the existing plan has failed, as new surveys can reveal unplanned growth but often do not provide effective solutions to address it. Ironically, lessons were not learnt from failure to enforce past master plans for Guwahati City, and the urgency to enforce the notified plans for various towns is still missing. Making participation of people central to the planning and enforcement process is essential to ensure expeditious implementation of the master plans for towns. Building awareness among residents on the importance of Master Plan and adherence to land use and other regulations included is essential to ensure the cities or town resilient and sustainable. Making elected bodies stronger can ensure the people to play their part in electing educated and committed representatives who would push for expeditious implementation of the master plans to make cities and towns liveable and sustainable. Roping in various domain experts is crucial to make correct projections of population growth and how it is going to impact demand for housing, public and personal mobility, healthcare services, education, and commercial services during the Master Plan period and beyond so that adequate resources can be mobilised in time to enforce the plan provisions. Simply classifying an area based on population growth and replacing agricultural activities with non-farm livelihoods does not transform a rural area into a town; only planned growth can truly make it urban.