Urban planning is going to big boost at the cost of numerous land loss in the countryside. The recent information about Gujarat nearing to acquire 4.8 Lakh Ha of land outside the existing urban areas for the numerous Special Investment Region (SIR) and SEZ throws light on the future character of state.
Across the state, there are three planning institution looking at the urban issues, rather arm chair one to present the glossy picture of ongoing development in the state. The busy state officials are key to presenting the land for the greedy corporates to setup never imagined empire of their estates. There us euporia in the planning community going gaga over the development, example is one of the leading planning schools (now turned University) to capture assignments, and join the party in the state.
The concerns of the 'common men' are limited to city management, rooting for the 'slum free India' these new school of thought has emerged maximizing the consultancy effort to take a peice of cake. The trend to establish their stamp now has emerged as keen party to rout for the barren lands in the hinterland for more urbanization led by the industries. There is no dirth of professionals taking advantage of current situation, and hardly any few tries to study the impact of the such as high end public policy. The apathy of the people towards these professionals has also come to be known as lobbiest at their best. The less we question the government in power the more we are likely to get works (consultancy). The privy to critical information most of them have tied up with builders and developers to participate in great official land grab.
Land Acquisition related issues have often divided the scholars but never too serious to hamper the present professional approach..who takes..forget about it approach. This has often resulted in negating the efforts of the planners engaged in listening to impact of proposed approach in the state. There is still time to oversee the proposal in the light of current conflict induced by the present development models. There is rejection of public participation in the planning efforts, no matter these are part of the Detailed Project Reports often casually undertaken without due process. The state has turned blindfolded on the concerns of general masses, giving lot of media coverage's to newly colored areas. Till the new planners realize their areas of working let the scrutiny of current planning proceed independently.
