Hearings on 13,400 objections to Bhopal Master Plan-2047 from Nov 16; most concern Upper Lake catchment

Hearings on objections to the draft Bhopal Master Plan-2047 will begin on November 16. The Town and Country Planning (T&CP) department has prepared an outline for the hearings, which will be finalised at meetings to be held on Tuesday.

According to officials, about 3,000 objections were duplicates. A single person had filed an objection online and also submitted documents offline, so these double objections have been removed. The number of objections now stands at about 13,400, and the hearings will be held on these. More than 5,000 of them were received by email.

The largest share, over 6,000 claims and objections, concerns the catchment area of the Bada Talab (Upper Lake) and other water bodies. These include villages and rural areas on the banks of lakes such as Neelbad, Ratibad and Bhauri. Another 4,000-plus objections relate to the proposal for commercial activity in residential areas.

Residents of the area have already filed a petition in the Supreme Court on the issue, and it is being heard. Resident Vivek Tripathi said he would put forward his side firmly during the hearings. He will also provide information on illegal construction so that a decision can be taken in the draft master plan.

Farmers have a separate demand. They want their agricultural land to be reserved for farming alone. According to Anokhi Singh Patel, farming is the main source of livelihood for farmers. They have therefore demanded the removal of Bhojtal Conservation Zone-1 (BIZ-1) and Zone-2 (BIZ-2), and want the land use of farmland to remain agricultural. They have also filed objections on this.

Farmers allege that the current draft proposes changing the land use of farmland around the Bada Talab. For this reason, they are anxious about the future of their land.