TN short of 600 town planners

CHENNAI: Town planners in the State have urged the Tamil Nadu government to reform the State Town Planning Departments.A report prepared by Institute of Town Planners India — Chennai Chapter and submitted to the government said that the TN requires about 600 planners to meet both government and private sectors’ needs, i.e., one planner for every 100,000 population. Interestingly, the global trend is one planner per 5,000 urban residents. The report said that the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority  (CMDA) would need about 100 planners, while, it had employed just 40, which was only 40 per cent of its actual requirement. Surprisingly, there are only nine town planners for the rest of towns or cities in Tamil Nadu.Interestingly, TN is the most urbanised State in India with 44 per cent urban population, while 16 per cent of the population live in Chennai metropolitan area and generate 26 per cent of State revenue, the report said. It also stated that the CMDA was not implementing the recommendations of The National Building Code of India, 2005 on organisation and enforcement, permit and inspection.