PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN PREPARATION OF DEVELOPMENT PLANS

SHUBHRANSHU UPADHYAY* VINEET SHRIVASTAV* HARINARAYAN*

ABSTRACT

Development plans are meant for people.

But do people have any say in their process

of preparation? What are the merits and

pitfalls of public participation in

preparation of development plans? The

paper tries to throw light on these questions

significant in the context of seventy third

and seventy fourth Constitutional

Amendment Acts.

INTRODUCTION

Seventy Third and Seventy Fourth

Constitutional Amendment Acts have set

upon responsibilities of preparing

Development plans on Village Panchayats

and Urban local authorities respectively.

Development plans are documents

indicating policies and strategies of

development along with maps and diagrams

showing spatial elements.

For the purpose of development plan

preparation contributions must be asked

from recognized groups of people such as

NGO’s, professionals, academicians,

scholars and experts in addition to proposals

made by authorities.

Development Plans are comprehensive

documents covering socio-economic

aspects, physical infrastructure and

environmental aspects of development of a

delineated area falling under the jurisdiction

of respective development authority.

* Authors are students of Masters Urban &

Regional Planning Department of Planning

SPA Bhopal.

Social and economic aspects cover firstly a

proposal for designating various land uses,

secondly reservation of land for public

purposes such as education, health, markets,

cultural institutions and public places

including reservation of land for local

authorities.

Environment aspects cover designation of

lungs spaces such as zoological gardens,

green belts, natural reserves and sanctuaries

etc. These also include preservation,

conservation and development of green

areas. Conservation of places of historical

value and architecturalinterest. Proposals

also to be made for prevention of air and

water pollution and also for flood controls

particularly in river catchment areas.

Physical Infrastructure includes transport

and communication features such as

roadways, railways, waterways and airways

including airports their extension and

development. Proposals for services such as

water supply, drainage, and sewage disposal,

supplies for electricity and gas also needs to

be taken care of.

PREPARATION OF A

DEVELOPMENT PLAN

For the purpose of preparation of

development plan, State government first

delineate the area and then constitutes the

urban development authority for

development purposes. The respective

authority prepares the ‘Draft Development

Plan for the area. The draft plan is being

prepared gathering requisite information’s

from various institutions, local authorities

and government bodies pertaining to

requirement of land for public purposes,

provision for infrastructure services, existing

land uses and road alignments.

The draft development plan is accompanied

by a statement indicating broadly the

proposed land uses and surveys carried out

for the preparation of the same, maps, charts

and statements explaining and justifying the

provisions. It also includes draft regulations,

stages of development, and an estimate of

the costs involved in land acquisitions and

development.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

In order to understand public participation,

a look at individual meanings of both the

terms ‘participation’ and ‘public’ is

essential. Participation is the act of sharing

in the formulation of policies and proposals

and therefore furnishing information by the

planning authority and an opportunity to

comment on that information is a major part

in the process of participation. Participation

involves discussing in addition to doing and

full participation can happen only by active

involvement throughout the plan making

process.

The term public refers to the entire

community inhabiting an area for which the

plan is proposed. One can regard the

community as an aggregate comprising of

all individuals and groups within the

community.

Development plans are to be construed

sccording to the aspirations and demands of

people for whom it is being prepared.

However there area few limitations to this

concept of public participation.

The first limitation is that the responsibility

of the plan preparation is and must remain

with the respective panning authority. So

there is not any assurance of the outcomes of

participation by persons outside the

authority.

The second limitation to participation as a

concept is that the completion of plans and

the setting of proposals and decisions into a

statutory form are tasks demanding the

highest standards of professional skill.

Hence, because of the lack of demand,

approach and the ability to express people’s

side, often the representation of the public

does not get considered. In order to find a

suitable way of participation these

limitations needs to be looked at in a

corrigible manner.

STAGES OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Public participation is sought and applied in

a definite codified, manner for the purpose

of preparation of Development Plan.

Generally this being done in stages as

follows.

i. Briefing about the proposed

development plan through

workshops.

ii. Call for advises from public

participatory groups during

finalization of goals and objectives

of city development plan.

iii. Priorities regarding area wise plans,

schemes and there alternatives to be

discussed with public.

iv. To obtain comments on draft

development plan.

v. Finally to be adopted in meeting of

local public authority.

CONDITIONS FOR PUBLIC

PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT

PROCESS

The public that is, all the concerned citizens

of the planning area for which Development

Plan is being prepared, can participate in the

plan preparation process in the following

manner.

First, it would be essential for the people to

be aware of the problem and ground realities

of the locality for which the plan preparation

process has been initiated. This kind of

awareness is essential irrespective of the fact

that the people might or might not be the

residents of the planning-targeted area.

Second, they should be aware of the issue of

notification by the respective planning

authority, since as on today it is the only

platform where they can put forth their

grievances and objections. Knowledge

pertaining to its issuance is necessary and

important. All notification issued by the

planning authority or the government have a

limitation of publication in few newspaper

and that of time. So the date of issue is

important in order that the whole attempt of

participation does not go void.

In addition, people should have a social

concern for an effort of this kind, which

would keep them, motivated till the end of

the process. It is also important that the

suggestions and modifications raised and

proposed by the people are not biased or

driven by malign intentions of vested

interests.

It is commonly witnessed that authorities

receive objections from persons and

landowners adversely affected by the plan

proposals and not from the common

citizens.

According to current practices, it is assumed

that the participation of people should come

after the plan preparation. In fact if public is

invited during the preparation, probably

there is a scope to translate the inputs from

the public and include them in proposals.

SHORTCOMINGS

In the absence of participation on part of

public the Development Plan may carry

various shortcomings, some of which are

enlisted below.

i. Civil society organizations and their

concerns not included and taken care

of.

ii. Heritage and nature lovers are not

called for their opinions, thus the

Development Plan lacks on issues of

conservation, protection and

preservation of heritage and nature.

iii. Economically weaker sections like

hawkers, slum dwellers and street

vendors, comprises a sizeable section

of society and still not heard for their

grievances, inspite of lack of

availability of basic facilities such as

drinking water and shelter.

SUGGESTIONS

Enlisted below are some suggestion

applicable at suitable stages of

Development plan preparation.

i. Series of meeting should be

conducted with civil society groups

and community building

organizations.

ii. Interviews of slum dwellers,

hawkers, and street vendors should

be conducted and their opinions to be

included.

iii. Contents of a development plan

should be published and should be

displayed on the wed before

invitation of objections and

suggestions.

iv. Objections and reservations should

be invited through media, hoardings

and other available communication

channels.

v. Constitution of community forums,

advisory Panels of people from

social service, academicians,

business and politics for obtaining

divergent views. These panels and

forums can further work as

intermediary between public and

administrative authorities during

implementation stage.

vi. Public participation to be called for

by way of organizing workshops,

meetings, discussions and

exhibitions.

vii. Land acquisition to be phase manner

& conveyed to related people with

due notification in advance.

viii. Implementation of Constitutional

Amendment Act 1992 for

preparation of Development plan

which advocates constitution of the

Metropolitan Planning Committees

(MPCs), District Planning

Committee (DPCs) and

decentralization of powers should be

carried out.

ix. In view of advanced technology

people should be involved in

surveys, data verification and

assessment of ground realities.

People’s representatives i.e. the

elected corporations should be

provided with opportunity for

discussions with all citizens

involved, at all stages of

development plan.

PARTICIPATION OF

PROFESSIONALS AND EXPERTS

A development authority indulges in the

preparation of Development Plan but does

not indulge in its implementation. This

might give rise to discrepancies while

implementation takes place. It is being

advocated that competent professionals and

experts should be appointed to bridge this

gap .They can provide assistance in both

plan preparation and subsequently in its

implantation.

It is a common practice that reserved lands

are not being acquired by respective

development agencies, exception being

lands reserved for housing and roads. Thus

criteria for reserving land, needs

reconsideration.

Absence of qualified professionals in local

bodies vise Municipalities and Panchayats

leads to lack of interaction with

development authorities. Local bodies are

well versed with ground realities and

existing situations but are not equipped with

suitable human resource to communicate the

real issues to the development authorities.

Development authorities do not deal with

slum eradication, shelter for economically

weaker sections, environmental protections

and preservations etc. This reflects in their

Development Plan proposals where these

issues get totally ignored.

Lastly professionals from various strata of

society should come forward on personal

level and guide in formulation of objectives

and guidelines of Development Plan.

CONCLUSIONS

Involvement of public and citizens needs to

be done in order to maneuver the planning

process in the correct direction. There is an

urgent need to make people more aware and

to increase their responsiveness for

successful translation of their vision in to

reality.

Wide participation from civil society groups

from inception stage shall lead to

Better understanding among peer groups

with respect to clarity of objects,

eliminations of dubious and controversial

issues and settlement of contradictions with

due reasons.

Thus public participation in its right earnest

is the need of the day and should be sought

at appropriate stages while making

Development Plans.

REFERENCES

Pal Mahi, 2008, Decentralised planning and

development in India, Mittal Publications,

New Delhi

Sivaramakrishnan K.C, 2006, People’s

participation in urban governance, Institute

of Social sciences, Concept Publishing Co.,

N.Delhi

Rao P.S.N, 2006, Urban governance and

management INDIAN INITIATIVES, Indian

Institute of Public Administration, Kanishka

Publishers Distributors, N.Delhi , pp 218-

219

Government Of India 1993, The

Constitutional (Seventy Fourth Amendment)

Act 1992

Times of India 2010, Planning with eyes

shut, Jan 06