CMDA intensifies campaign to collect citizens’ suggestions

CHENNAI: The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has intensified its campaigns at public places including beaches and parks to collect citizens’ views for the Third Master Plan (2026-46). The planning authority will create a vision document based on the suggestions from the public and that document will become the base for the plan.

On Sunday, PK Sekarbabu, Minister of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments, and Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) took part in an awareness campaign in Marina beach on the preparation of the vision document and requested citizens to share their views and expectations. CMDA has placed QR Codes in public areas, using which the public can share their suggestions online.

“As of now, around 12,000 residents have submitted their suggestions both online and offline. To ensure more participation from the public, camps are being conducted in places like temples, beaches, parks and bus stands. We are expecting to collect suggestions from 50,000 persons,” the minister said.

He added that the public will be asked 16 questions on the topics such as traffic congestion, housing facilities, environment, development of new towns and upgradation of suburban areas. The camps will be held till the end of this month.

Considered to be a failure by experts, several aspects of the Second Master Plan are not implemented effectively.

“The Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971, mandates a review of the Master Plan every 5 years. This was not taken up by the CMDA and the Tamil Nadu Government. The CMDA has forgotten to address changes due to climate change, urbanisation, and Chennai’s expansion. The failure of the Second Master Plan can be attributed to the involvement of various parastatal agencies in different aspects of governance. This distribution of responsibility prevents the realisation of the SMP as there is no coordination between agencies,” a study on the second master plan conducted by Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group in 2019, said.

However, the officials are optimistic as the Third Master plan will be implemented successfully as the public is consulted on a wide scale even before the preparation of the plan. The Third Master Plan will address effective solid waste management, heritage conservation, transit-oriented development, Green TDR to preserve eco-sensitive areas, integration of green infrastructure, housing for all and other aspects, an official said.

The public can use online forms by using links https://forms.gle/1SaapSDXXyyAmbBK7 (English) and https://forms.gle/4cQVYKFekpia4upr9 (Tamil) to share their views. They can also visit www.cmavision.in.