The Gazetteers Department

The Maharashtra State has an independent Town Planning and Valuation Department under the administrative control of the Local Self-Government and Public Health Department. This department came into existence in 1914 with the Consulting Surveyor to Government as its head. The department principally deals with two important subjects, viz. town planning and valuation of real property.

Functions of the Department.

The duties and functions of this department as stipulated by the Government are to educate municipalities regarding advantages of town planning and preparation of development plans and town planning schemes under the Bombay Town Planning Act, 1954; to advise municipalities in the selection of suitable areas for preparation of town planning schemes; to give the required assistance to municipalities in the preparation of development plans and town planning schemes by offering advice, lending technical assistance, etc. in the preparation of draft town planning schemes; to perform duties of the town planning officer when so appointed by Government, to scrutinise building permission cases, to tender advice to the Board of Appeal and to draw up final schemes; to issue certificate of tenure and title to the owners of lands included in town planning schemes; to advise the Government on all matters regarding town and country planning including legislation; to advise and prepare town development, improvement, extension and slum clearance schemes under the Municipal Acts; to prepare development schemes or lay-outs of lands belonging to the Government or to co-operative housing societies and private bodies with the sanction of the Government; to advise officers concerned in respect of village planning and preparation of layouts for model villages, etc.; to advise Government on housing, slum clearance, regional planning and prevention of ribbon development including legislation; to prepare type designs for the housing of middle and poorer classes including the Harijans; to scrutinise miscellaneous building permission cases and layouts received from the Collectors; and to recommend suitable building regulations for adoption in the areas concerned.

TOWN PLANNING AND VALUATION.

The Consulting Surveyor to Government is the chief expert adviser of the Government on this subject and his duties under this heading include: (1) Valuations of agricultural and non-agricultural lands and properties in towns and villages belonging to Government and intended for the purposes of sale or lease. (2) Valuations of Government properties for purposes of rating under the Municipal Acts. (3) Valuations for miscellaneous purposes such as cantonment leases, probate or stamp duty, etc. (4) Valuations for the purposes 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. (5) Valuations for the purposes of fixing standard table of ground rents and land values in respect of lands in cantonments. (6) Scrutiny of awards of compensation (as received from Government). (7) Supplying trained technical assistants to do duty as special land acquisition officers in important towns where the land acquisition work is of a very important and responsible nature. (8) Giving expert evidence when called upon to do so in District Courts and High Court when appeals are lodged against awards of compensation under the Land Acquisition Act. (9) Undertaking valuation work on behalf of railways and other departments of the Central Government and private bodies with the sanction of Government on payment of fees, etc. (10) Among other duties are: to advise various heads of the Government departments in the selection of sites required for public purpose; to see that all town planning schemes or layout schemes sanctioned by the Government have been properly executed within a reasonable period or periods fixed therein; to advise the Government as regards interpretation, amendment or addition to the Bombay Town Planning Act or rides thereunder, etc.

The department was started in 1914 with the Consulting Surveyor to Government as its head who was later on assisted by one Assistant Consulting Surveyor to Government, one Deputy Assistant Consulting Surveyor to Government and two Senior Assistants 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 and country planning very essentially required in and around towns and cities. 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 stationed at Poona while branch offices are placed at Bombay, Kolhapur, Kalyan, Nagpur, Amravati and Aurangabad. Some of the officers have been appointed to function as Land Acquisition Officers. There is one full-time Special Land Acquisition Officer, at Poona. In addition to two part-time Land Acquisition Officers one each at Bombay and Poona, one full-time Land Acquisition Officer functions at Bombay.

The statutory powers regarding planning embodied in the Bombay Town Planning Act, 1915, have been replaced by the Bombay Town Planning Act, 1954. This Act generally incorporates the provisions of the Bombay Town Planning Act, 1915 and in addition makes obligatory on every local authority (barring village panchayats) to prepare a development plan for the area within its jurisdiction and submit it for the sanction of the State Government. The development plan would aim at the improvement of existing congested gaothan portion of town and make proposals in respect of outlying open areas so as to guide the development on planned basis. The proposals of the development plan can be implemented by the preparation of statutory town planning schemes. In preparing town planning schemes, the planner can ignore to a great extent existing plot boundaries. In designing his lay-out, existing holdings can be reconstituted and made subservient to the plan and building plots of good shape and frontage can be allotted to owners of lands which might be ill-shaped for building purposes and without access. The cost of a scheme can be recovered from the owner benefited, not exceeding 50 per cent, of the increase in the value of the land estimated to accrue by the carrying out of the works contemplated in the schemes. When a draft town planning scheme prepared by a local authority in consultation with the owners is sanctioned, a town planning officer is appointed. His duties among others are to hear each owner individually, consider objections or proposals and make suitable adjustments or amendments in the draft scheme proposals, if found necessary.

Most of the local authorities have no technical staff of their own to prepare a development plan and it has been decided that this department should prepare development plans on behalf of local authorities under the provisions of the Bombay Town Planning Act, 1954. Accordingly the scheme for preparation of development plans has been provided in the Second Five-Year Plan and the additional staff sanctioned for this purpose.

The Ratnagiri municipality has in view preparation of a town planning scheme for its area which is in the process of development. But the proposal could not materialise as Ratnagiri Town had not been surveyed till 1958. The work of city survey is in progress and on its completion the municipality will be properly advised to undertake the work of preparing the town planning scheme.

There is no branch office of this department in the district and the work received from Government, Collector or local bodies, etc. is being dealt with by the branch office of this department at Kolhapur, by deputing an assistant if so necessary.

DIRECTORATE OF PUBLICITY.

District Publicity officer.

The Ratnagiri district has a District Publicity Officer in charge of the District Publicity Office stationed at Ratnagiri. He acts as a link between the Government officers and the press in the district. By keeping himself in touch with the officers of the various departments in the district, he issues to the press, news-items, write-ups, etc. and disseminates factual information on schemes and activities of the Government in the district. He also arranges press visits and press conferences to provide an opportunity to the press to get first hand knowledge of the subject to be covered. Similarly, he acts as a correspondent at the district level and covers programmes and functions arranged by the Government such as ministerial tours, press conferences, etc. He often delivers lectures to the audience explaining Government policy and programmes.

A mobile publicity van fitted with 16 mm. cine-equipment is put in charge of the District Publicity Officer, who takes it round the villages of the district and provides free film shows for the benefit of villagers. The films exhibited are mostly documentaries on various nation-building subjects including agriculture, cattle improvement, health, village industries, education, civil duties, Five-Year Plans, etc. The films for exhibition are mostly produced by the Directorate of Publicity, while a few of them are borrowed from the Films Division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India and other film-producing agencies.

PUBLICITY SUB-COMMITTEE OF DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT BOARD.

The office of District Publicity Officer, Ratnagiri, is under the supervision of the Regional Publicity Officer, Bombay. The Collector of the District and the Publicity Sub-Committee of the District Development Board also aid and advise him in his work. Some members of the Committee including the Chairman (who is Vice-Chairman of the Board) accompany the van and deliver talks in villages on nation-building subjects.

Besides these activities, the Directorate has an Information Centre under the supervision of the District Publicity Officer, Ratnagiri. The Centre, fully equipped with charts, models, exhibits, etc. serves as a useful medium of explaining to the people of the district, the progress of various schemes and projects under the Five-Year Plan.

RURAL BROAD-CASTING.

At present about 65 villages in the Ratnagiri district have been provided with radio receiving sets under the Contributory Scheme of Community Listening. Under this scheme, a village desirous of having a radio set is required to pay Rs. 175 as installation contribution and Rs. 60 per year as maintenance contribution.

The installation and maintenance of radio sets is carried out by the Rural Broadcasting District Headquarters at Ratnagiri. A Supervisor is in charge of the Rural Broadcasting District Headquarters Ratnagiri, which is fully equipped with radio service meters, testing equipments, etc. to carry out the necessary repairs to the radio sets. The Supervisor is assisted by two battery peons. A departmental motor vehicle is stationed at Rural Broadcasting district headquarters. Ratnagiri, for the transport of radio sets, allied accessories and staff to and from the villages in connection with the installation and maintenance of radio sets in the district.

The community receivers installed in the villages are specially designed for the purpose and a majority of these receivers are battery-operated. The receivers are regularly maintained and discharged batteries replaced by new ones. Suitable reply-paid post cards are provided to villagers to enable them to intimate any breakdown or defect in the working of radio sets installed there, without incurrence of additional expenditure to them. The radio sets are installed in public places such as the village panchayat office, the village chowki, the village library, etc.

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