The Centre has asked the state government to update the existing database of six towns in Orissa, which was earlier developed by the Survey of India under the Central-sponsored National Urban Information System (NUIS) scheme.
Though the database for Cuttack, Balasore, Baripada, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Berhampur was created a few years ago, the towns have subsequently witnessed changes in terms of geographical expansion, prompting the government to go for an updated database.
Besides, the information available on the maps, though useful, is not sufficient enough to create masterplans and carry out development activities, sources said. At a meeting held in New Delhi recently, the Union ministry of urban development asked the state government to make a fresh assessment of those towns and incorporate the latest updates in the original database prepared by the Survey of India.
“Accordingly, we have asked the urban local bodies of the six towns to provide us information about the changes in terms of development witnessed in recent times. We will furnish the updates and send it to the Survey of India for addition,” director of state town planning Prashant Kumar Pattnaik told TOI. The directorate of town planning is the nodal agency for implementation of the NUIS scheme in Orissa.
With an aim to create a spatial and utility databank of different towns in the country, the Centre in March 2006 launched the NUIS scheme. The six towns of Orissa were part of the 137 towns/cities in the country that were covered under the scheme. The Survey of India had used geographic information system (GIS) source and created database of the six towns in two scales, i.e. 1:10000 and 1:2000, sources said.
Though the exercise was conducted in 2006, the Survey of India submitted the maps of towns excepting Balasore (under 1:10000 scale) on August 26, 2010. Database of Sambalpur, Berhampur and Balasore under the scale of 1:2000 was submitted to the state government on July 5, 2011 whereas the maps of Baripada and Cuttack were supplied on December 21, 2010, sources said.
“We have not yet received the map of Rourkela. And the utility maps we received have been sent to urban local bodies for ground verification,” an officer said. “We will prepare a cadastral based mapping of the six towns where information on each plot (land) will be available for creation of spatial data base for various levels of urban planning and preparation of master or zonal plans,” Pattnaik said.
