For better management of urban planning, first of all there is a need to ensure participation of citizens in effective urban planning, only then world class urban India can be built. The functions listed under the 12th Schedule of the Constitution include urban planning, regulation of land use and formulation of plans for economic and social development. Therefore, states are expected to hand over these tasks to municipal corporations.
There has also been talk of formation of a ward committee for every city above Rs 3 lakh which will look after the municipal related works. It is necessary to make all these institutions an integral part of the planning process. On the other hand, we see that a lot of responsibilities have been assigned to urban local bodies in the name of decentralization.
Now if we look at disasters, the 2014 floods in Jammu and Kashmir were also caused by unplanned development of cities along the Jhelum river which increased the scale of the disaster. The disaster management system of Jammu and Kashmir is also in an underdeveloped state and it does not have any flood forecasting system.
