Nitish Kumar takes Gujarat's help for Patna makeover

AHMEDABAD: Nitish Kumar may have whipped up a storm with his scathing attacks on Narendra Modi, but when it comes to giving Patna a makeover, the Bihar CM doesn’t mind a Gujarat influence.

Based on Gujarat’s town planning schemes, Ahmedabad’s Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (Cept) University has prepared a master plan for Patna’s town-planning scheme. The draft, approved in principle, will guide planned urban development in Bihar.

In January 2011, Bihar had approached Cept to prepare a city development plan for Patna, which had been facing civic issues, especially water-logging, waste management and unplanned constructions. Cept is now ready with the new scheme which will be announced in August by Nitish.

During discussions with Cept and Patna-based consultants , representatives of the Bihar government had requested that Bihar’s urban plan should be similar to that of Gujarat.

“Cept has submitted its recommendations along with the master plan to the Patna city authorities, which has been approved. The plan is based on Gujarat’s town planning model,” said Utpal Sharma, dean, Faculty of Planning & Public Policy at Cept University.

As part of the task, Cept prepared a master plan, which covers areas like town-planning, urban flood and solid waste management, housing plans for poor, public transport, industrial area infrastructure development and even tourism. Cept has also proposed conservation measures for heritage sites in Patna, an important pilgrimage centre for Buddhists from all over the world.