Jaipur: Multiple retired officials from Urban Development and Housing (UDH) department and Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) have expressed dissatisfaction with the state govt’s handling of Master Plan 2047. These officials assert that the govt ought to have already put the Master Plan into effect and JDA should be proceeding with new provisions, particularly documentation for jurisdictional expansion.“I feel that the state govt should have executed the new Master Plan by now. The govt missed deadlines five times by appointing different types of consultancy agencies to prepare the master plan. As precious time is getting wasted, the apprehension is whether JDA would be able to complete all proposed provisions incorporated in the new master plan within 2047?” questioned Chandra Sekhar Parashar, retired additional chief town planner of UDH Department.Officials of UDH department retaliated against this claim, stating that the implementation of the Master Plan 2047 is at its final stage and awaiting final approval from the cabinet. They claimed the plan should be implemented by Sept 6, 2025, and there is still time left to meet the deadline.“Even if we miss the Sept deadline, we feel we won’t waste much time implementing this master plan. Such master plans require a comprehensive study and opinions, criticisms, and suggestions from experts and residents from different sections of society. We examined various crucial factors driving the region’s economic activities and sought suggestions from different sections of people before finalising the draft. Most of these initiatives were taken before the assembly polls of 2023,” said a UDH department official.Earlier, a section of retired town planners and former officials of the JDA vehemently criticised the civic body’s decision to double its jurisdiction in the next 25 years. Instead, these retired officials wanted the state govt to develop new authority or urban local bodies for added areas adjacent to Jaipur city.“Incorporating areas under UDH aims to facilitate development, as UDH possesses substantially superior funding allocations compared to rural and panchayati raj departments. The population in these regions is projected to increase exponentially in the next 25 years, as more people would migrate towards the state capital,” another UDH official opposed.
