Vidya S

UM4000-1

Managing TPO's task in a Town Planning Scheme

The planning system in India is divided into socio-economic development planning and spatial planning process. Socio-economic development planning process deals with the 5-year plan and planning commission etc. The scope of this ward project is based on the management of spatial planning process. The spatial planning process is about the judicious use of the land which involves spatial planning level, national level, inter-state, metropolitan, district and local level (Evolution of Planning Legislation in India, 2015). Urbanisation emerges varied business advancements and spatial complications. Hence development has to be managed to enhance infrastructure development, improve economic growth and stimulate proper functioning of the city. Ahmedabad is one of the major cities of India, also grows at a faster rate on the line of urbanisation. The spatial planning of the city starts at the Development Plan level (DP) which is a macro level planning and is further split into much micro level planning which is the Town Planning Scheme (TPS). This town planning scheme helps to understand the on-ground situation at a micro level. Implementation of the TPS can happen on-ground only with the help of regulations for the developments which take place at that level. 


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As per 74th Amendment, town planning is one of the functions of the ULB. At the city level, Town Planning and Valuation Department under Urban Development and Urban Housing Department, located at Gandhinagar, acts a principle department in announcing the schemes. The Town Planning department under the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) works on the preparation of the TPS. The TP&VD appoints the Town Planning Officer who finalises the schemes. To guide this process and also to establish the ro

TPO has the whole accountability for the allocated TPS. Under the TPO, there are nine Junior TPs who handles 12-15 TPS each. The JTPs are assisted by seven Planning Assistants. The Surveyors and Draftsman are also involved in assisting the JTP with on-site survey reports and drawings.

Throughout the process, it was observed that the time taken to finish the TPS from draft to final stage is long. It takes 15 to 20 years to sanction the final schemes. There are no monitoring mechanisms or time limits at each stage to keep an account of time taken. Effects of time lag Due to this time lag in sanctioning of the TPS, there are various problems which arise. Delay in sanctioning process affects the pace of development in that area. The main aim of the TPS is to develop the area in

The TPO is overloaded with responsibilities of more than 15 TPS. Hence he is assisted by JTPs and planning assistants as mentioned in the human resource organogram. But even the assistance provided is barely sufficient and the assistants are also overloaded with responsibilities. In some offices, there is no proper infrastructure for working. Outsourcing the technical support for the TPO would be efficient in this case, where the technical part of the work will be done by a private firm but it w

The employees in the government sector are almost permanent. There is very less possibility of them quitting their job. Hence, increasing their work efficiency is important. This can be done by imposing some managerial measures in the existing system. Capacity building and performance analysis are two major tools in improving the efficiency of an employee.

Capacity building is a need for all the town planners to improve the department’s standard. It helps the planners to learn new tools for efficient planning methods with a good awareness of the government procedures. TPOs who are about to handle large city projects after handling small city projects can under go capacity building. Capacity building improves work efficiency for the planners. It can be done by planning expertise like researchers and planners who can teach current tools, technolo

This system cannot be accomplished over night. Hence it requires stage wise improvement to bring this method to practise. Stage 1: Data gathering stage Data gathering is the initial stage to this system. Recording of data and creating awareness about this system is very important in this system. Capacity building is also a part of the initial stages. This takes about 2- 3 years. Stage 2: Norms setting stage The recorded data is analysed in this stage after data gathering. The average tim

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