Curation Team
NAGPUR: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has started the process to draft a new and comprehensive revised development plan (DP) for the city after nearly 25 years, setting in motion a long-pending exercise to guide urban development over the next two decades.
The new DP — being prepared under Sections 23(1), 34, and 38 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1966 — will replace the earlier plan prepared in 2000 by the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) and though revisions are legally required every 20 years, the process was delayed until now.
While the civic body has finalised the extended municipal boundaries, several key areas — including parts of east Nagpur, areas under MADC and Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited — have been left out of the proposed plan due to overlapping jurisdiction with other authorities.
NMC moved ahead following state govt’s directives under Section 154 of the MRTP Act in 2018 but the action was inordinately delayed. This directive required the civic body to prepare a unified DP for both the old municipal limits and newly merged villages. Accordingly, NMC completed the task of demarcating boundaries for the proposed development area, which now stretches across more than 22,700ha.
However, in this newly demarcated plan, large tracts of east Nagpur — including Bharatwada, Punapur, Pardi, and Bhandewadi — have been excluded due to their inclusion under Smart City planning zones. These areas, covering nearly 689ha, fall under the jurisdiction of Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Ltd (NSSCDCL), a special planning authority, stated a notification issued by municipal commissioner and administrator Abhijeet Chaudhari.
Similarly, land parcels associated with Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Ltd and the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) for the Mihan project have also been kept out of the DP’s purview. Notable areas like Jaitala, Bhamti, and various Metro station precincts in Ajni, Ambazari, Dhantoli, Sitabuldi, and others too have been excluded. The DP thus focuses only on regions where NMC is the sole planning authority.
Notably, Hudkeshwar (Budruk) and Narsala, which were merged into the city limits in 2013, have now been included in the new plan and found no mention in NIT’s 2001 DP. The current revised plan now considers increased urbanisation and projected population growth for the next 20 years.
Reservations for civic amenities such as parks, schools, roads, cultural centres, overhead water tanks, and playgrounds will be marked accordingly in the proposed layout. Once finalised, a complete map of these reservations and proposed developments will be published for public review.
As per statutory provisions, citizens, organisations, and stakeholders will be invited to submit objections or suggestions on the draft DP within 60 days of its notification. Maps for public inspection will be made available at the NMC headquarters, the office of the Deputy Director of Town Planning (Special Unit), and the NIT office, and also online at www.nmcnagpur.gov.in. Public hearings will then be conducted to consider the feedback received.
Once all objections are evaluated and necessary changes made, the final DP will be tabled before the NMC’s general body for approval. After the civic body’s nod, the DP will be forwarded to the state govt for final sanction. However, sources indicate the entire process — from marking reservations to incorporating citizen feedback and receiving final approvals — could take an additional two years.
Through this revised GIS-based DP, NMC aims to establish a structured roadmap for sustainable urban expansion while addressing challenges posed by overlapping authorities and evolving infrastructure demands in a rapidly growing city.
