New Delhi: From developing new satellite towns and making cities’ water secure to policy provisions for digital property records and protecting homebuyers in cities, the BJP has presented a roadmap to manage fast-paced urbanisation over the next five years in its manifesto.
During the release of the manifesto at the party headquarters Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Previous governments looked at urbanisation as a challenge; BJP sees it as an opportunity. We will develop new satellite towns, which will become the growth centres of the country’s development and provide new employment opportunities.”
The BJP has promised a “combination of reforms and policy initiatives”, multimodal transport facilities between cities and transit-oriented development to manage urbanisation by creating new satellite towns near cities. It has also promised to develop an enhanced public transport network in cities, with facilities ranging from e-buses to metro networks.
Urban development experts have been pushing for the planned development of census towns and satellite towns for years. The development of roads and highway networks through rural areas has led to the urbanisation of these areas, as well. However, the lack of infrastructure, employment opportunities, and urban planning provisions in these areas has added to the pressure on cities.
According to a report by the NITI Aayog in 2021, India is the second largest urban system in the world, with almost 11% of the total global urban population living in Indian cities. “A significant proportion of urbanisation in the country is unacknowledged and unaddressed. Almost half of the 7933 ‘urban’ settlements are census towns, that is, they continue to be governed as ‘rural’ entities,” the report said.
In its previous 2019 election manifesto, the BJP also promised further development of “suburban townships and new urban centres”. In 2021, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in the budget for 2022-23, announced the Modi government’s plan to incubate eight new cities, based on the 15th Finance Commission report. A provision for Rs 8,000 crore was made for it. However, the Union housing and urban affairs ministry has not announced the names of the cities yet.
Earlier in 2015, the BJP-led Centre also launched the Smart Cities Mission to promote 100 “cities that provide core infrastructure, clean and sustainable environment and provide citizens a decent quality of life through “smart solutions”.
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Affordable housing plans
Seeking a third term at the Centre, the BJP is now also trying to reach out to a large section of people, especially the middle-income group, with its promise of affordable housing—a key poll promise since 2014.
In the current manifesto, the BJP, for the first time, has promised to strengthen the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act of 2016.
“We will facilitate home ownership for middle-income families through comprehensive measures, including cost reduction in construction and registration, regulatory reforms like enabling automatic approvals for standard housing designs and promoting mixed-use housing,” the BJP manifesto read.
The NDA government introduced the real estate Act in 2016 to protect homebuyers. But, over the years, complaints of houses not being delivered on time by builders, incomplete projects, delays in completion of housing projects, etc., have increased, especially in Delhi-NCR.
Last year, the Centre constituted a 14-member committee headed by former NITI Aayog chief executive officer Amitabh Kant to examine stalled real estate projects in the country and suggest ways for their completion. The committee submitted its report to the housing and urban affairs ministry last year.
The BJP also plans to digitise land and property records in cities, after rural areas, to modernise the property record system. “We will undertake the creation of the Digital Urban Land Records System,” the manifesto said.
The issue was discussed at the third chief secretaries meeting, chaired by PM Modi, in January this year.
Continuing with its focus on bringing about a paradigm shift in urban planning, the BJP has promised to develop a “modern set of legislation, by-laws and urban planning processes using technology”.
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Plans for climate change
In the past few years, hill states have faced several challenges due to climate change and other factors.
The BJP manifesto said, “We will work with state governments and local bodies to prepare a special master plan to maintain their pristine beauty and biodiversity, taking into account the local geography, culture and traditional practices, for the balanced development of hilly areas.”
From urban flooding to water shortage, cities face numerous challenges, as well, due to climate change and unplanned development.
Over the next five years, the BJP promised to “create water-secure cities, aquifer recharge and smart metering for bulk consumers”.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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