"Among 7,935 cities and towns, only 24 per cent have got notified Master Plans. So, the Ministry of Urban Development, in collaboration with the partner institutions such as National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Survey of India, also state governments, we want to prepare Master Plan for all cities in the months to come," Sudhir Krishna, Urban Development Secretary, told reporters here.
The problems in preparation of Master Plan are lack of staff and funding, among others, he said. Krishna, however, said efforts are underway to address problems like training manpower, availability of maps in a year or two.
"First step we have crossed is availability of maps. The hitch was that whether the maps can be used in public purpose or not. Maps are ultimately in public domain. Planning authority cannot hold on to maps in their drawer or almirah. Now, that the Survey of India has permitted, in two weeks time, all this will be uploaded on Bhuvan (ISRO's Geoportal)."
The training of officers in the necessary skills would begin shortly and the exercise will be completed in about three months, Krishna said.
The Secretary was briefing reporters on a national workshop on National Urban Information System (NUIS) of the Union Urban Development Ministry.
