Chandigarh: Haryana chief secretary Anurag Rastogi on Saturday said the urban policies and regulatory frameworks must evolve to address emerging challenges of sustainability, infrastructure resilience, rapid urban expansion and citizen expectations.He said the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975 significantly contributed to planned urban growth, infrastructure creation and economic development in the state over five decades but underlined that the time had come to take it to the next level.Rastogi, while chairing the state-level seminar on town and country planning projects, stressed that coordinated efforts among govt institutions, planners and industry stakeholders were essential to ensure balanced, inclusive and future-ready urban development across Haryana.The day-long roundtable was structured across three dedicated sessions. The Leaders Roundtable featured chief secretary Rastogi alongside T L Satyaprakash, joint secretary, department of pharmaceuticals, Govt of India; Amit Khatri, director, town and country planning, Haryana; and former senior officials S S Dhillon and T C Gupta.The session was moderated by former chief town planner Jaswant Singh.Administrators, urban planners and real estate leaders on Saturday reached a collective consensus that the 1975 Act must be urgently modernised and strengthened to keep pace with the state’s rapidly expanding urban landscape and evolving developmental needs.The consensus emerged at a high-level roundtable discussion organised by the Institute of Town Planners, India-Haryana Regional Chapter (ITPI-HRC) in Panchkula, held to mark 51 years of the landmark legislation that laid the foundation for planned urban development in Haryana through private sector participation. MSID:: 130715962 413 |
