Excelsior Correspondent
SHOPIAN, Nov 2: The District Development Commissioner (DDC) Shopian, Mohammad Shahid Saleem Dar today convened a meeting of Chief Town Planner and MC Shopian authorities in order to finalise the early formulation of GIS based Master Plan for the Shopian town as per present land cover and land use changes.
The Chief Town Planner has been tasked by the government to formulate the Master Plan employing Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to collect, analyse and manage data. It shall be made involving steps like creating a base map, data collection and analysis, concept/ infrastructure/ land use plan preparation, draft Plan and Final Master Plan.
On the occasion, DDC instructed for taking urgent steps to prepare the Master Plan as expeditiously as possible, keeping in view the deficits in the existing Draft Master Plan and the permission related delays being encountered by the MC Shopian.
Shahid desired that a comprehensive plan and extensive consultation with public and stakeholders shall be done at every step of its formulation.
CTP Kashmir on the occasion apprised that the GIS based Master Plan shall be a Plan in Practice, as each phase of it shall be based on live environment and ground truthing, made possible through data collection by satellite and drone imaging.
The GIS based Master plan shall be accurate to the ground, based on updated and current land use and land cover changes, unlike the last formulated Computer Aided Design (CAD) draft Master Plan made in 2012.
The funding for preparation of GIS based Master Plan shall be made through AMRUT 2.0
The meeting was attended by Chief Town Planner, CPO, DIO, CEO MC, Secretary, MC Shopian and other Officers.