Over 1,800 Objections To Bhopal Master Plan; BIZ-2 Draws Nearly 500

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): More than 1,800 online objections and around 130 offline suggestions have been submitted to the Town and Country Planning (T&CP) department against the draft Bhopal Master Plan 2047, with property measurement errors and proposed land-use changes emerging as major concerns.

The deadline for submissions is Oct 24 midnight.

Bhojtaal Influence Zone-2 (BIZ-2), covering areas around Upper Lake, including Khanugaon, Halalpura and Sevania Gond, has attracted nearly 500 objections, the highest among the zones.

Most complaints concern incorrect property measurements. Nearly 100 separate objections and suggestions have also reached the T&CP office seeking corrections to proposed development provisions.

Residents have demanded changes to alignments of proposed 18-metre-wide roads, conversion of green belts and agricultural land for residential purposes, and exclusion of Kalapani from the sensitive zone.

Objections also seek removal of 643 acres in Laharpur from the proposed submergence zone, with residents claiming the land has been cultivated for nearly 30 years.

Some residents have sought rerouting of proposed roads away from tiger movement areas.

Land requirement calculations questioned

An objection has flagged inconsistent population density figures in the draft plan. While 15,030 hectares are proposed to accommodate an additional 20 lakh people, residential densities are listed as 90.47 and 94.7 persons per hectare.

Clarification has also been sought on the proposed development of around 30,000 hectares against population projections and existing developed land.

T&CP identifies major discrepancy

Last week, T&CP director and commissioner Kaushlendra Vikram Singh reviewed objections with Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) building permission officials.

BMC officials identified major land-use discrepancies along the 51-km growth corridor, expected to be rectified through normalisation.

Objections to be examined after Oct 25

BMC chief city planner Neeraj Anand Likhar told Free Press that objections were being compiled into four to five categories.

Examination and resolution of objections will begin after Oct 25.