Lucknow gets bigger by 380 sq km

The Lucknow master plan is in for a revision. The board of Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) has decided to have a fresh look at the city master plan whose developmental area has been increase from 600 sq km to 980 sq km within a span of 10 years since 1999. Lucknow had a total area of 320 sq km (excluding Cantonment) in 1970. This increased to around 600 sq km in 1999 when 173 villages were acquired as part of city’s expansion plan. The city swallowed another 157 villages, thereby increasing its area to around 980 sq km. ‘‘This (city’s expansion) is mainly because of large scale land acquisition drive for various development activities carried out by the government as well as private builders,’’ said LDA vice-chairman Mrityunjay Kumar Narain. He said this would be an extended master plan for the additional land acquired over the years. This includes all agricultural land, water bodies and environmentally sensitive zones. However, the previous master plan, framed in 2005, will remain intact. The master plan 2021 took into account 600 sq km of area. ‘‘Idea of an extended master plan for the city would mean a planned development for the newly acquired areas,’’ said a senior official in the town planning department. Narain said LDA has also proposed a 156 km outer ring road around the city. Also, the revised (extended) master plan would have two cattle colonies instead of one which is near Balaganj. The revised master plan promises more green cover. While the master plan framed in 2005 had allotted 20.63% of total land for greenery/parks and open spaces, the revised master plan claims to increase the allocation to 21.6%. However, land allocation for residential purpose has been decreased from 48.25% to 45.21% in the new plan. Commercial area too would have a relatively decreased allocation from 3.51% to 3.11%. But there would be more land allocation for transport facilities (like roads). Against an allocation of 15.72% in 2005, the allocation of land for road would increase to 18.83%. Likewise, there would be higher allocation of land for office space — from 1.24% to 1.30%. But there’s slight reduction in land allocation for public facilities — from 6.65% in the previous master plan to 6.31% in the revised plan.