by datta Nighut 
1. Introduction to Thane Development Plan 2026 & Master Plan
Thane is a city with an engine of growth as large as Mumbai and life that is reminiscent of a much smaller town. Thane Development Plan Developmental work over the past few decades has transformed Thane into a progressive, livable city with planned housing complexes, well-laid-out roads, wide open spaces, shopping malls, etc. However, today the city of Thane faces several challenges with respect to uncontrolled growth, partial availability of infrastructure, and a high proportion of slums. Therefore, there was a felt need to draft a comprehensive Development Plan for the period 2006-2026 and a Master Plan.
This document is an attempt to create a Development Plan and Master Plan that ensures the vision for the future of Thane, as envisaged by all stakeholders, is achieved.
This 24-year-long period is projected as the “Altitude 0” for Thane to climb up. Objectives of the Master Plan include tackling the critical issues of urban growth, lack of infrastructure, and enhancing the quality of life in a well-defined, systematic, and comprehensive manner.
It also aims to prepare two conceptual plans for a period of 20 years. The population of the Thane Municipal area has been growing in geometric proportion from 590,513 in the 1991 Census to 1,262,551 in the 2001 Census. It is further anticipated that the area will grow past 2 million by 2010, and with the proposed railway route linking Kalyan and Thane, the area will be further emphasized and developed, resulting in phenomenal growth by 2026.
Comprehensive planning and an integrated approach are certainly called for, considering the urban dynamics of several demographic, social, economic, environmental, and biophysical issues to address the challenges and resolve the problems.
The people of Thane, along with government bodies, elected representatives, traders, and industrialists, came together, evincing unanimity and determination to chalk out a strategic Development Plan and a Master Plan for Thane aimed at regaining the vibrancy of the eighties of the century. The global synergy in all aspects of life and the quantum leap realized in a span of 20 years is indeed seen.
2. Historical Context and Significance of Urban Development Plans in Thane
Urban planning in Thane received a significant impetus when this city opened up a sector for residential establishment for the people working in Mumbai in the early 19th century. Initially, there were no contemporary policies as such, thus resulting in unplanned and unorganized growth.
Then, developmental control rules were introduced, and they kept changing with the change in requirements of the hour. One such policy was the Town Planning Scheme, which has been very popular in Maharashtra.
Intending to spread across the city of Thane, this scheme would be designed to control the unplanned and chaotic development being carried out. But only 10% of the total city area was influenced by this as the current city area incalculably expanded.
Hence, in the middle of the 1960s, the Master Plan for this city was prepared and executed in 1971. However, it proved to be a non-workable tool for this city. One significant thing to be noticed is that the DP and master plan studies are revisiting their previous missions every 10-20 years with a differentiation of the period.
This is a sort of ‘sad’ development because of the ignorance of the policymakers and administration about the city heritage. Different specialists have repeatedly analyzed old reports in an effort to shorten the process of understanding the context.
Hence, this is to show you that this is the first ‘edition’ of revisiting Thane. It is important to carry out this exercise since policymaking and administration should be robust and sustainable for systematic urban growth. It leaves many lessons for the future about city growth and about the way future policies should be framed. Building an effective policy for the future requires a better understanding of the past and the existing scenario.
The previous development policies are the building blocks of further development policies. Comprehensive redefining and retracking of those developments are crucial if we want a healthy and vibrant city in the future. Past initiatives and developments are gauges of progress and the ratio between the demand and supply of economic fortune to the available population.
Thane Master Plan officials should hence understand different stresses and conditions faced earlier and different opportunities that make Thane a livable and productive place. Death rates, birth rates, dependency ratio, and population pyramid demonstrate responses to macroeconomic and policy change influences. Hence, preparing a projected master plan for 2026 indicates the above conditions and assesses the influence of similar conditions of the past to draw up a planning strategy for Thane’s future.
3. Key Components and Objectives of Thane Development Plan 2026
The Thane Development Plan 2026 is proposed to be publicly released within the next year. This development plan could be the foundation for transforming Thane in Maharashtra, India, into a New York-style city.
A Master Plan is an urban settlement plan, while a Development Plan or Town Plan is a statutory plan that integrates the Master Plan with the land use zoning maps of the region.
The Development Plan encompasses proposals for planning in five parts: the Development Plan or Town Plan itself, the zoning regulations or use and occupancy rules, the building and construction regulations, the subdivision regulations, and the proposals to create or improve infrastructure required.
The Thane Development Plan has three main components or parts: the development control rules, the road and public transportation proposals, and the proposals for water, sewerage, and solid waste management.
There are five key objectives that the Development Plan hopes to achieve. The most important of these is to create greater employment opportunities for the growing population in Thane.
The second objective is to correct the continued deterioration of living conditions and basic infrastructure like roads, water supply, and sewerage systems. The third objective is to provide decentralized, quality, affordable housing close to the place of work by providing incentives to private sector developers and purchasers.
The fourth is to lay emphasis on public transport rather than automobiles, which worsen congestion. Finally, the Development Plan intends to contain urban growth and protect agglomerations of national importance as well as recreational and tourism areas.
4. Implementation Strategies and Stakeholder Involvement
Our philosophy seeks to mobilize all resources in the public, private, and non-profit sectors to maximize the ability to accomplish implementation. In order to facilitate effectiveness, the Thane Development Plan 2026 will pursue the following strategies.
A. Coordinated Activities
In order to encourage synergy between different state, metropolitan, and local government activities, we will attempt to establish representative and communicative structures that cooperatively inform and communicate with all involved sectors. Specifically, we will provide a presence that links information from government agencies across all sectors in a manner that is useful to the public as well as the administration. By having a method for ‘one-stop’ information access, implementation accountability is directly enhanced.
B. Mobilization of Resources
In order to ensure public accountability and scope buy-in, a number of mechanisms have been and will be developed for capturing funds to implement these strategies. The level, time frame, and oversight mechanisms are clearly defined for the public, proponents, and implementation overseers. The development of parameters generally informs the public about critical investment and partnership guidelines and the development community regarding physical parameters.
III. Capacity to Implement
A. Stakeholder Involvement
Representation: All affected industry sectors, public bodies, community-based organizations, non-profits, and agencies involved in implementation are represented. These representatives and their alternates are designated by the decision-making/governing body of their organizations. They have the ability to make decisions for their constituency and are recognized community and/or industry leaders.
Ways to share input and feedback into the decision-making process of the Plan: Using multiple methods of involvement, the Plan will invite community participation including discussions, open meetings of governmental bodies, design studio sessions, focus groups, open-ended town forums, and surveys.
All upcoming dates for discussions and participation in this planning effort will be updated. In addition, the decision-making bodies implementing the Plan will post their meeting dates in accordance with local government regulations.
Utilization of appropriate communication techniques ensures that stakeholders are made aware of decisions, information, and activities as required throughout the implementation process.
Techniques include formal forums, public hearings, inserts in city utility billings and/or annual financial reports, mailings and/or brochures, press releases, public service announcements, news media interviews, and applications.
At a bare minimum, a ‘Marketing Strategy’ document that outlines the effort to inform the community and involve stakeholders from the development of land use plan determination for the final document’s release will be posted as it is developed. Feedback from the community will be incorporated into a strategy to involve the public in the process.
5. Challenges and Opportunities for the Future of Thane
The road ahead is expected to be fraught with challenges as the rapidly increasing population of the city, fueled by migration, is expected to double the city’s population.
Not only this, the mix of age groups is expected to undergo a sea change with fewer children and an increase in middle and old age groups. Further, environmental degradation is expected owing to pressures on infrastructure, especially urban transport.
The city, at its heart, is expected to attract investments, which will no doubt be welcome, but it will also strain its existing infrastructure. With the growing social disparities, housing and facilities are expected to fall out of reach for several, if not many.
Unfortunately, while such is the challenge, the greater challenge is to seize the opportunities that are also likely to arise under the circumstances. Continuing technological advancements in various fields offer hope in overcoming some of the difficulties. One such example is the network towers that would help simplify traffic flow with intelligent signaling.
There is also an opportunity for more participative community and socially oriented solutions – for example, using the city’s flat spaces during late evenings for football practice with special lighted facilities for children.
The better part of these opportunities can be leveraged over and above the so-called anchor or main infrastructure projects through public-private partnerships indicating proper resource rationalization. But the best opportunity of all would be to build an adaptive and flexible community development plan, such as a mobility plan, which could fairly easily adapt to the unfolding realities, as they often change!
