The Gazetteers Department

Town Planning and Valuation: Town Planning and Valuation is under the administrative control of the Urban Development. Public Health and Housing Department. It came into existence in 1914 with the Consulting Surveyor to Government. Pune (now designated as Director of Town Planning) as its head.

The Department, as its name indicates, principally deals with the important subject of town planning and valuation of real properties Some of the important duties and functions of this department or stipulated by Government are as under:

(I) Town Planning :

(A) To prepare regional plans, development plans and town planning schemes under the provisions of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, which came into force in the State with effect from 11th January 1967.

(B) To render assistance to the municipal authorities in the preparation of development plans and town planning schemes, and

(II) Valuation : The Director of Town Planning is the chief expert adviser of Government on this subject and his duties under this head include―

(A) Valuation of agricultural and non-agricultural lands and proper-ties in towns and villages belonging to Government and intended for the purposes of sale or lease.

(B) Valuation of Government properties for the purpose of rating under the Provincial Municipal Corporation Act.

(C) Valuation for the purpose of fixing standard rates of non agricultural assessment and prescribing zones of values in all villages and rising localities in the vicinity of important and growing towns

Organisation: The Department as staled above was started in the year 1914 with the Consulting Surveyor to Government, Pune (now designated as Director of Town Planning, Maharashtra Stale, Pune) as its head who was later on given assistance of one Assistant Consulting Surveyor to Government (now designated as Deputy Director of Town Planning) and one Deputy Assistant Consulting Surveyor (now designated as Assistant Director of Town Planning) and two Senior Assistants (now designated as Town Planners) with the requisite staff. As the activities of this department increased, these assistants had to be posted at prominent places in the State to attend to the work of Town Planning and Valuation etc., very essentially required in and around the towns, cities, etc. There has been a tremendous increase in the activities of this department in recent years with the consequential increase in the number of branch offices in the State The head office of this department is at Pune and other offices at present are located. at Bombay, Pune, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Amravati, Aurangabad. Jalgaon. Thana. Sholapur, Ratnagiri, Satara, Ahmadnagar, Chandrapur, Nanded and Bhiwandi. The department also spares officers to work in the awards section of Revenue and Forests Department to scrutinise the land acquisition awards, in the Bombay collectorate to deal mainly with valuation work in Bombay, in Maharashtra Housing Board to function as Assessor and in the Rural Housing Cell of the Rural Development Department to prepare lay-outs of villages included in the schemes of that department. Officers of the department are also called upon to give expert evidence in the courts in land acquisition references and appointed to function as Arbitrators to finalise draft town planning schemes prepared by the Planning Authorities and as part-time or full-time Land Acquisition Officers at important places like Bombay, Pune. Sholapur, Kolhapur. Satara, Ahmadnagar, etc.

A new branch office for the Ahmadnagar district with a Town Planner as its head came into existence with effect from October 26, 1964. Like other towns in the western Maharashtra, the work of preparation of development plans and town planning schemes was regulated by the Bombay Town Planning Act, 1915, Bombay Town Planning Act, 1954 and now by the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966.

According to the provisions of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, it is obligatory upon every Planning Authority (as defined in the Act) to carry out survey, prepare an existing land use map and prepare and publish a development plan for the entire area within its jurisdiction. There are in all four Municipal Councils in the district, viz.. Ahmadnagar, Sangamner, Kopargaon and Shrirampur. The development plans of Ahmadnagar, Sangamner and Kopargaon have already been sanctioned by Government under the provisions of the Bombay Town Planning Act. 1954, and came into force during the years 1963. 1965 and 1964 respectively. The Ahmadnagar Municipal Council has declared its intention to revise the development plan and the work of carrying out surveys and preparation of the revised development plan is undertaken by the Ahmadnagar Branch Office of this department. The draft development plan of Shrirampur which was submitted to Government for sanction was returned by Government without according sanction and Government have advised the Planning Authority to prepare a fresh development plan. This work is also being undertaken by the Ahmadnagar Branch Office.

Three town planning schemes of Ahmadnagar have already been prepared and have come into force under the provisions of the Bombay Town Planning Act. 1915 and Bombay Town Planning Act, 1954. One more town planning scheme at Ahmadnagar has been prepared by the Ahmadnagar Branch Office which is under finalisation under the provisions of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966. Similarly one town planning scheme for Shrirampur is also prepared and is under finalisation under the provisions of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966.

Apart from the work of development plans and town planning schemes the Ahmadnagar Branch Office has also been dealing with the work of preparing lay-outs of Government lands and of new village gaothan sites for re-settlement of flood-affected and irrigation project-affected persons, as also lay-outs of industrial estates etc. The usual work of scrutinising building plans and lay-out plans received from the Collector of the district as well as from the Municipal Councils in the district is also attended to by the Ahmadnagar Branch Office. The Town Planner of this office is also appointed as Special Land Acquisition Officer to deal with the land acquisition work in the Ahmadnagar city initiated by the Ahmadnagar Municipal Council for the purpose of implementation of the proposals of the development plan of Ahmadnagar. This branch office has also dealt with the work of valuation of properties whenever required for Government purpose. The draft awards received from Government (Revenue Department) have also been scrutinised and reports have been submitted to Government by this branch office.

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