Departments Head

(1) CHIEF TOWN PLANNER, GUJARAT STATE,

BLOCK NO.14, OLD SACHIVALAYA,  GANDHINAGAR 

The Town Planning and Valuation Department works under the Urban Development and Urban Housing Department of Government of Gujarat with Chief Town Planner as head of the Department and having its jurisdiction covering whole of the Gujarat State.

The main aim of the department is to secure well-balanced and planned development of the major urban centers of the State as well as small and medium towns. The department is the main technical wing of the State Government for urban planning. Its main functions include -

• Advocate and Promote Planning Activities in the State. Scrutiny of the Development Plans and Town Planning Schemes of the cities and towns prepared by the Appropriate Authorities under the provisions of the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Act, 1976.

• Supervision and Monitoring of the Regional as well as Branch offices of the department.

• Technical support to Appropriate Authorities in preparation of Development Plans and Town Planning Schemes.

• Advise to the State Government on technical and legal matters.

• Advise on the valuation of land, where Government interest is involved.

• To evolve Urban and Regional standards and guidelines.

• Provide guidance for implementation of urban development programmes envisaged in the five year plans and annual plans of the State Government.

• Advise the State Government on framing of policies related to urban development, urban renewal, town planning, development control etc.

Organisational Setup

For better planning and efficient control on the development, the Gujarat state has been divided into three administrative regions viz, North Gujarat Region, South Gujarat Region and Saurashtra Region. Under the supervision of Chief Town Planner, there are three regional offices, headed by the Senior Town Planner, at Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Rajkot respectively. Under these regional offices, there are 16 branch offices at the district level headed by a Town Planner. Jurisdiction of branch office, in some cases, extends beyond one district in case of small districts. So, there are 16 branch offices, though the state has 26 districts. Besides branch offices, there are more than 40 Town Planning Officer's offices. The Town Planning Officers (TPO) is in the rank of Town Planner. These TPO post are statutory post and they are working as quasi-judicial officer to finalize the draft town planning schemes prepared by the Appropriate Authorities.

Branch offices at District level

(2) DIRECTOR OF MUNICIPALITIES

            The Director of Municipalities and Regional Director of Municipalities are  supervising the functions of the municipalities and controlling the administration of the 159 municipalities as empowered under the Gujarat Municipalities Act,1963 since 1965. They are also implementing the schemes like as 11^th  Finance commission grants, Urban community Development schemes and Urban basic service.

(3) MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS

           There are seven Municipal Corporations viz.Ahmedabad,Vadodara,Surat, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Junagadha which administration is governed by elected body, municipal commissioner under the act of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act,1949. The State Government is administered the administration of the municipal  Corporation directly.

(4) MUNICIPALITIES

            There are 159 Municipalities in which 18 Municipalities having more than 1 lac population,   34 Municipalities having population between 50,000 to 1 lac,  45 Municipalities having population between 25000 to 50000 and  64 Municipalities having population between 15000 to 25000 categorised A, B, C and D respectively.  After implementation of the 74^th Amendment all are governed by elected bodies under the Gujarat Municipalities Act,1963 which are administered and supervised by the Director of Municipalities and State Government as empowered under the Gujarat Municipalities Act,1963.

(5) URBAN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITIES

            There are Five Urban Development Authorities i.e. Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, and Gandhinagar. There are Seven Area Development Authorities i.e. Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Rapar, Anjar, Bhuj, Bhachau, and Kodinar. There are 114 designated Urban Development Authorities which are governed under the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Act,1976. They are preparing Development Plans, Town Planning Schemes, and giving building permissions and other development works like as Drainage, Water Supply Roads, Parks, Gardens etc. The said authorities are having statutory boards constituted under the said act.

[2] Public  Undertaking Boards

(1) THE GUJARAT HOUSING BOARD

(1) The Gujarat Housing Board is constituted under the Gujarat Housing Board Act,1961. The Board is acquiring lands and constructing various houses in the state.  The Government is giving government lands to construct urban poor houses in the state. They are taking loans from HUDCO and NHB etc.  for constructing various urban poor houses in the state.

(2) THE GUJARAT MUNICIPAL FINANCE BOARD

            In the state, the Gujarat Municipal Finance Board is constituted under Gujarat Municipal Finance Board Act,1979.  The main function of the Board is to implement the Centrally Sponsored Scheme and distributing  state finance commission's grants and to advise urban local bodies to function their obligatory function and strengthen the resources of the urban local bodies and assisting local bodies to take loan from financial institution to smoothly running the administration of the urban local bodies. They are advised to up-to-date their accounts systems and giving soft loans for their various projects  under the control of the State Government directly. They are also advising to administration  of urban local bodies to economic by reducing employee and unnecessarily expenditure. They are also monitoring the schemes and other development works of the  urban local bodies.

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