PCMC gets remote sensing technique for urban devp

PUNE, Oct 20: The development perspective plan of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) till the year 2018, made by use of re...

PUNE, Oct 20: The development perspective plan of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) till the year 2018, made by use of remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) technique by Ahmedabad-based Space Application Centre (SAC) was formally presented to Mayor Madhukar Pawle here today.

PCMC is the first municipal corporation in the country to make use of the remote sensing technique for preparing the technical report for urban planning. SAC director Dr A K S Gopalan who presented the report, told reporters that the preparation of the plan for the PCMC will serve as a pilot project for initiating similar other projects elsewhere in the country.

One of the interesting conclusions of the report for PCMC has been that the area covered by the municipal limits (including the recently merged 18 villages) is 171 square kilometers. The report submitted by the SAC provides comprehensive details about wastelands, land under agriculture, residential, and industrial purposes, besides water bodies, hills and slopes.

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Five kilometer area around the existing limits has been specified as buffer zone, keeping in view the possible extension of the PCMC limits in the future. Areas for implementing infrastructural facilities such as transportation have been identified. The SAC team comprised Dr Ajai group director, SAC scientists Dr S K Pathan and A S Arya.

Some of the conclusions of the report

According to the report, the population by the year 2018 will be nearly 25.5 lakh. That means the PCMC will have an additional population of 17 lakh to the existing one. The area required to accomadate this additional population is 8500 hectares. However, the suitable area for urban development is only 5895 hectares. To meet the total demand of 8500 hectares the PCMC will have to depend on the buffer zone around the PCMC limits.

As per the urban sprawl study, a large extent of the physical growth of urban or built-up land, was noticed between 1971 and 1988. The annual growth during this period was 76.18 per cent, which is quite alarming as far as providing basic amenities and infrastructure facilities are concerned. The increase has been mainly attributed to the establishment of new industrial areas. However between the years 1988 and 1991, the average annual growth rate dropped suddenly to 13.94 per cent. The lowest average annual growth rate has been observed during 1994 and 1998 and is 2.85 per cent.

The report has said that the PCMC will have to look into the ground water prospect map prepared under the project to meet the water requirements by the year 2018. An area of 1008 hectares has been identified under severe erosion, while 1600 hectares area has been identified as flood risk zone.

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