Aimed at improving the living standards of about 12 lakh people who will occupy an area of 133.67 sqkm, the master plan for the temple town of Ayodhya that will govern its development for the next decade has been approved by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday.
In the works for the past two years, the master plan 2031 was put up by the housing and urban planning department on the CM’s table this week after disposing of 1,084 objections that were raised by the citizens. The department also had to finalise the facade control guidelines and a common building code as the CM during a review on November 28, had directed the officials to finalise the master plan in a way that it adds to the beauty of the city in the long term.
Principal secretary, housing, Nitin Ramesh Gokarn said that approval of the Ayodhya master plan was fast-tracked to promote holistic growth of the city. The last master plan for the development of Faizabad/Ayodhya was prepared in 1983 and lapsed in 2001, he added.
The Yogi government approved the Ayodhya 2031 master plan before those of other cities.
Ayodhya Development Authority vice-chairman Vishal Singh said, “The plan is going to be implemented in the city from November 12. The zoning regulations will be the first thing to be taken up by the authority.”
The experts who prepared the master plan noted that attention will be needed to transform seven slum settlements in the city which have close to 4,295 households.
As more than 2 crore tourists visit the city annually, the experts urged the local authorities to work on a long-term tourism plan to create more employment for residents and generate revenues. It is expected that by 2031, more than 4 crore tourists will visit the city annually.
The master plan has also made a case before the local authorities to take immediate steps to increase the existing number to 25,000 rooms of different categories to cater to the foreign and domestic tourists. Presently the city has only 592 rooms to offer across 17 hotels. The dharamshalas in the temple town can accommodate another 5,500 individuals in the present scenario.
The planners also studied the traffic volume and identified five busy road stretches where intervention was required to bring down congestion.
A senior government officer revealed that Yogi Adityanath who is also the housing minister approved the Orai master plan 2031 on Thursday as well. “Ayodhya’s master plan is a complex one and needed a lot of deliberation. Orai master plan was the easiest one to prepare and hence was taken up as the second one,” said a senior officer from the department.
The development of Orai town in Jalaun has been planned over an area of 193.27 sqkm and will cover 34 villages.
