GHMC moots land pooling scheme for basic amenities

HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has proposed a Town Planning Scheme for Greater Hyderabad on the lines of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana model. The basic concept of the scheme is pooling together all the lands under different ownerships and redistributing them in a proper reconstituted form after deducting the land required for open spaces, social infrastructure, services and road network.

It is aimed at ensuring well-planned development and to provide basic amenities like roads, water, drainage, street lights, etc and facilities like schools, playgrounds, parks, health care centres, etc.
GHMC chief city planner S Devender Reddy, who attended the 67th National Town and Country Planners Congress organised by the Institute of Town Planners, India, at Chandigarh last week said that Town Pooling Scheme is gaining momentum in other States as it is beneficial to all besides ensuring well-planned development and providing the civic amenities.

Three states Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana were successfully implementing the model and the same can be replicated in GHMC and more particularly in Hyderabad Metropolitan Development (HMDA) where large chunk of vacant lands are available and suitable for land pooling scheme, he said.

The land pooling scheme taken up in Uppal Bhagat layout by HMDA is a joint venture of local authorities and owner of plots, who have volunteered to pool their land, to redistribute the land among themselves and share the development costs. With the TPS, city will be able to obtain land for public purposes such as low-income housing, open spaces, roads, utilities, and social amenities, avoiding much of the un-serviced expansion that characterizes many other Indian cities.

Hotels, wine shops fined

Continuing surprise raids on hotels and restaurants identified as bulk garbage generators, the GHMC officials on Tuesday raided six more hotels in Chandanagar circle and levied penalties on them for not adhering to rules. The teams found stale, unhygienic food served to customers. Total fine imposed stands at `2.65 lakh.