REVIEW OF PAST MASTER PLANS AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES, GWALIOR

Abstract

Planning is a continuous process and the planning system should be such that ensure this continuity. Commencing from 1915, when Bombey Town Planning Act was passed which enabled preparation of land use plan within the city limits, town planning practice in India has come a long way. During the early periods planning was piecemeal and such approach continued to be the practice for about four decades. After independence, city planning experienced tremendous changes in its approach due to need for resettlement of displaced persons as consequences of political changes. Several resettlement colonies were added in existing cities and many new towns with industrial base were developed. Town and Country planning laws were enacted by various states and master plans of many towns were prepared and plans of some urban centers are currently in different stages of preparation or approval. Implementation of these plans,. however. Has greatly been poor and they have been criticized to be rigid and static having little regard to investment planning efforts and taking very long time in the process of plan formulation and approval. There is a general conclusion that land use plans are needed to guide development of urban centers but it should not only remain an instrument of control but a tool to promote an orderly development