Will we ever master a proper plan for Bengaluru? Premium

Bengaluru does have a history of Master Plans. But did they really help the city grow in an organised manner? Experts weigh in on the question

An inglorious mess. That is precisely what Bengaluru’s bizarre, chaotic outward expansion has become, despite decades spent articulating the crying need for planned, regulated, controlled growth. How long should the city wait for a Master Plan that really works?

The last such attempt, the Revised Master Plan (RMP 2031) was scrapped two years ago. By all accounts, a new plan would take at least two years. But there is no sign that work on a draft is in the making. Does this mean Bengalureans would have to perennially endure the consequences of random infrastructure projects envisioned with zero connection to what the city really needs?

Tasked with preparing the draft, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had insisted that groundwork on the plan would be taken up on priority. Last year, the new commissioner had talked about drone surveys to identify the residential, commercial, agricultural and other zones, analysing the city’s planning needs for the next 10 years. He had agreed it was a long process and a survey was only the first step.

Approval for the draft RMP-2031 was reportedly withdrawn for not incorporating the recommendations of a Transit Oriented Development (ToD) policy. It also lacked the integration of a Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP), prepared by the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA). This legislation was passed well over a year ago, but the Authority is yet to take shape.

In the current vacuum, the BDA has been using the outdated RMP 2015 to approve plans. For the record, RMP 2015 has been blamed for all the havoc triggered by constructions on storm water drains and lake beds. Many policy experts are convinced that the genesis of the floods that had the city in a twister of mobility woes and marooned scores of localities could be attributed to the old plan prepared in 2006.

Bengaluru does have a history of Master Plans. But did they really help the city grow in an organised manner? Not really. Planning, as articulated by the 74th Constitutional Amendment, should be a local government function, as urban planner Anjali K. Mohan points out. This bottom-up approach would mean the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) prepares a spatial plan embodying, through the ward committees, socio-economic development as the goal.

The Bengaluru Metropolitan Planning Committee would then provide a framework for such ground-up planning. It would also be tasked with coordinating and collating such efforts across local governments to prevent overlaps and gaps in large infrastructure planning and implementation.