HMDA advised to involve stakeholders

HYDERABAD: Involve all the stakeholders— that was the point driven home by concerned citizens at a consultative meeting the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) held here on Friday.“The Draft Metropolitan Development Plan for the Hyderabad Metropolitan Region was prepared in isolation. It needs to integrate the existing seven master plans with the proposed draft and hold meetings with stakeholders for a comprehensive plan beneficial to the people,” Forum for Better Hyderabad president M Veda Kumar advised.He pointed at a few flaws in the draft and opined that the flawed plan would only end up doing more harm than good. The draft does not mention public transport, solid waste management, environmental issues and others etc, he added. Chetana Society secretary D Narasimha Reddy, while echoing Kumar’s views, suggested that the HMDa make available copies of the draft in Telugu so that villagers too can understand and respond.Among the other objections he raised were the failure of the HMDA to conduct a household survey in the villages that fall under HMDA and its decision to base the plan on Census-2001. Hari Babu of Lahiri Resorts brought to the notice of the HMDA several loopholes in planning and building rules.