Today's Master Plans are anti-poor says Minister

New Delhi, Dec 15 (UNI) The existing system of Master Planning is anti-poor, Minister of State for Housing and Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja said today.

The traditional system of Master Planning of cities based on the Western model of segregation of residential uses from commercial and institutional uses has led to the exclusion of some social groups and unequal growth, she said.

''There has been little planning for the informal sector including vendors, hawkers, construction workers and other vulnerable groups in cities.'' ''The Master Plans must be made inclusive with provision of adequate space for housing the poor and informal sector activities,'' Ms Selja said at the Asia-Pacific Ministerail Conference on Housing and Human Settlement here today.

"The government must accept the inclusion of the poor as the core in all urban policies and programmes," she stressed.

''India would be glad to support a 'Forum for Inclusive Cities', which could be a think-tank, a bank of best practices in inclusive civic development and an agent of change for pro-poor governance and service delivery in cities,'' the Minister said.

She also called for enhancing the capacity of civic bodies to deal with problems of urban housing as complexities of the urban administration have grown manifold due to urban growth, population concentration, mounting poverty and unplanned spatial activities.

''There is a lack of institutional and managerial capacities in implementing poverty alleviation and slum upgradation initiatives in urban civic bodies. City Governments should have the capacity and skill to administer service outsourcing, public-private partnership for infrastructure development, effective services delivery and poverty alleviation programmes,'' she added.

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