‘Flawed Draft Master Plan’ hinders construction activities in Shopian town

Shopian, Nov 18: In August, several members of Shopian’s civil society held a peaceful demonstration against the Draft Master Plan (2023) in front of Town Hall Shopian. The concerned members urged the authorities to revisit the plan as it had stymied almost all construction activities in town.

The Draft Master Plan was prepared by the Town Planning Organisation Srinagar following a survey carried out in 2012-2013. However, the stakeholders and the residents were not consulted before preparing the plan.

The survey, according to the residents, was carried out almost surreptitiously, and the draft was not made available to the public, leading to confusion regarding the building permissions. “My application for building permission was turned down by the authorities as the parcel of land I wanted to erect the structure was designated for some non-residential purpose as per the Draft Master Plan (2023),” said a resident. He said that he had to flit between one department to another to seek the permission.

Mitha Gatoo, a civil society member said that the Draft Master Plan made zoning changes in an arbitrary manner. “The authorities have also acknowledged the loopholes in the draft plan,” Gatoo said.

Underlining the inconsistencies in the plan, the Municipal Council Shopian (MCS) sent a letter to the District Development Commissioner, Shopian on May 21, 2022, requesting revisions to the Draft Master Plan 2032.

According to the letter, the immediate adjoining areas of the arterial roads are proposed as residential areas as per proposed land use, which will not fulfil the key objectives of the Draft Master Plan 2032.

“The Draft Master Plan proposes recreational zones in the areas already occupied by residential colonies creating an ambiguity and inadequacy in the plan,” reads the letter.

Magray Mansoor, a social activist said that they held protests, presented memorandum to higher authorities, but their efforts proved futile. “The Draft Master Plan had created much confusion among the residents. They are clueless about the status of their land,” said Magray.

Gulzar Ahmad Deva, another social activist from the district said that people had terribly suffered over the last several years as they were not able to obtain building permission.

“The civil society highlighted the issue at many high-level meetings, but to no avail,” Deva said.

An official said that District Development Commissioner (DDC) recently convened a meeting of Chief Town Planner and Municipal Council authorities to finalise the Geographic Information System (GIS) based Master Plan for the town, given the land cover and land use changes.

“The DDC issued strict instructions for the expedited preparation of the Master Plan,” said the official.