NAGPUR: After a 25-year stretch, Nagpur is finally moving towards creating a new, comprehensive Development Plan (DP). Following its announcement on June 13, the civic body has collected 43 suggestions from residents before the August 13 deadline, with many calling for the removal of long-standing reservations blocking property development.
“Notably, most requests come from landowners within the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) in seven street schemes where plots have been inactive since the last DP in 2000,” reported a senior NMC official.
The revised DP, required under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1966, must be completed within six months of its inception, aiming for a December 13, 2025, publication date. However, skepticism surrounds the NMC’s ability to meet both the deadline and successfully implement the plan.
The ramifications of the previous DP are still felt today. Drafted in 2000, it included 896 reservations for community amenities such as parks and schools. Two decades later, 804 of those reservations remain unaddressed, with only a few road projects completed.
This has left many citizens’ lands in limbo—neither developed nor acquired by authorities. “We’ve been trapped for over 20 years. They either need to acquire our land and build the facilities or release it. People can’t be held hostage forever,” expressed a property owner from Aradhana Nagar-1 on Manewada-Besa Road. Local residents are tirelessly seeking improvements in essential civic amenities despite paying property taxes for years.
The NMC’s latest draft expands the DP to over 22,700 hectares by including newly merged areas such as Narsala and Hudkeshwar, covering 57 moujas. Yet, crucial areas in East Nagpur like Bharatwada, Punapur, Pardi, and Bhandewadi are excluded due to conflicting jurisdictions with Smart City projects and others. Critics argue this fragmented approach contradicts a 2018 state government directive requiring a unified DP for both old and new areas.
Officials assert that this planning effort is more rooted in current realities, with the town planning department requesting updated land-use data from NIT and its engineering departments to better reflect current conditions.
As Nagpur’s population grows and pressure on civic amenities increases, the implications are significant. The DP aims to designate land for various needs like playgrounds, schools, and cultural centers. However, unless the NMC transcends merely marking maps, the risk of repeating the failures of the last 25 years looms large, with ambitious plans failing to materialize.
The countdown to December 13 is ticking. Whether the NMC will deliver a viable roadmap or entrap citizens once more in a cycle of unfulfilled promises will crucially shape Nagpur’s urban future.
