DEVELOPMENT PLANNING OF PURI CITY UNDER THE ECOCITY PROJECT

Abstract

According to the UN estimates 60 % of the world's population would be living in urban settlements by the year 2030 and according to the 2001 census report India has 35 million plus cities across the country. These urban settlements are gargantuan scaled energy guzzlers which need energy for their mere sustenance. In India the small and medium scaled towns have been increasing their sizes and numbers, albeit in an unplanned and chaotic fashion. This breeds unhygienic conditions and has adverse effects on the environment as well. To deal with this the Central Pollution Control Board with the support of World Bank and the Government of Germany has planned to prepare environment improvement plans for some cities across India under an Ecocity Project for redevelopment and regeneration of the existing urban settlements. In the first phase six cities have been taken namely Vrindavan, Ujjain, Puri, Tirupati, Kottayam and Thanjavour. The various environmental aspects that could be covered under the Ecocity project include �â� � Urban sanitation, drainage, sewerage, solid waste disposal, traffic management including parking, improvement of urban design quality and tourist facility planning. For this a budget of Rs.150 million has been sanctioned for the period of 2002 �â� � 03 to 2006 �â� � 07 which is to be used as the seed money. This dissertation has taken Puri as the study area and attempts to prepare an environment improvement plan dealing with some of the above mentioned points into consideration. Puri is a coastal town in the eastern side of the Indian peninsula. Located in the state of Orissa the town is one of the most important religious centers in India. In Orissa out of the total population of 36 706 920 as on 15t March 2001 31 210 602 live in rural areas and 5 496 318 in urban areas. The net addition of population in rural areas during 1991 -2001 has been 3685399 while in the urban areas it is 12 61 785. Although the population of the city is still less than 0.2 million it has to welcome about 5 million visitors and pilgrims throughout the year on an average. The world renowned Ratha Yatra of Lord Jagannath alone draws around 5 �â� � 6 lakh population. All this puts a heavy pressure on the existing infrastructure of the city and creates a resource crunch. This calls for a concerted effort so that not only the resources are intelligently and efficiently utilized but also the urban chaos could be minimized.