CMDA-DTCP merger, a common pool of town planners in Tamil Nadu
The government has already brought all the construction and planning norms under one rule book — Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules, 2019.
Published: 07th February 2019 03:51 AM
Express News Service
CHENNAI: Soon, Tamil Nadu will have a common pool of town planners who are well acquainted with the Development Control Regulations and hence, facilitate planned urban and rural development.
The government is planning to merge the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) and the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) to achieve this integration.
This merger, a top official told Express, would happen before the recruitment of the next batch of town planners. The government has already brought all the construction and planning norms under one rule book — Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules, 2019.
Earlier on June 5, 2017, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had announced in the Assembly that a separate cadre of town planners would be created at the State level with the DTCP Commissioner as its controlling authority. Initially, there were also plans to rope in local bodies for the setting up of the common cadre. However, the plan has now been kept in abeyance due to administrative issues. Sources say that involving the local bodies would take much more time as they will have to be brought on board. Still, there are many more challenges remaining to be addressed.
Both the CMDA and the DTCP have a shortage of qualified town planners. As per information available with Express, of the 232 CMDA employees, only 56 are qualified town planners. Similarly, the DTCP and its subordinate offices have only 10 planners with post-graduate degrees. The creation of a common cadre, if implemented soon, is likely to solve this problem. Currently, the DTCP has a sanctioned strength of 801 but has only 267 permanent staff.
It is learnt that there is a huge backlog of vacancies at the levels of the Joint Director, Deputy Director and Assistant Director which are being filled by temporary staff. As of now, the Directorate of Town Panchayats and Directorate of Rural Development do not have a separate town planning wing. By considering the Town and Country Planning Organisation guidelines, a tentative module for establishment in the following departments has been worked out.
Big plans
Although the common cadre for local bodies is likely to be delayed, sources said that requirement of tentative teams of planners for Corporations, municipalities and panchayat is being worked out
The government has already brought all the construction and planning norms under one rule book — Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules, 2019.
Published: 07th February 2019 03:51 AM
By C Shivakumar
Express News Service
CHENNAI: Soon, Tamil Nadu will have a common pool of town planners who are well acquainted with the Development Control Regulations and hence, facilitate planned urban and rural development.
The government is planning to merge the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) and the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) to achieve this integration.
This merger, a top official told Express, would happen before the recruitment of the next batch of town planners. The government has already brought all the construction and planning norms under one rule book — Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules, 2019.
Earlier on June 5, 2017, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had announced in the Assembly that a separate cadre of town planners would be created at the State level with the DTCP Commissioner as its controlling authority. Initially, there were also plans to rope in local bodies for the setting up of the common cadre. However, the plan has now been kept in abeyance due to administrative issues. Sources say that involving the local bodies would take much more time as they will have to be brought on board. Still, there are many more challenges remaining to be addressed.
Both the CMDA and the DTCP have a shortage of qualified town planners. As per information available with Express, of the 232 CMDA employees, only 56 are qualified town planners. Similarly, the DTCP and its subordinate offices have only 10 planners with post-graduate degrees. The creation of a common cadre, if implemented soon, is likely to solve this problem. Currently, the DTCP has a sanctioned strength of 801 but has only 267 permanent staff.
It is learnt that there is a huge backlog of vacancies at the levels of the Joint Director, Deputy Director and Assistant Director which are being filled by temporary staff. As of now, the Directorate of Town Panchayats and Directorate of Rural Development do not have a separate town planning wing. By considering the Town and Country Planning Organisation guidelines, a tentative module for establishment in the following departments has been worked out.
Big plans
Although the common cadre for local bodies is likely to be delayed, sources said that requirement of tentative teams of planners for Corporations, municipalities and panchayat is being worked out
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