| Abstract: |
Urbanisation plays a key role in economic and social development in India, its unplanned nature can generate significant pressures on agricultural land, infrastructure, water resources and the urban environment. This worry is very pertinent in Sri Ganganagar, a major district headquarters in the productive canal irrigated agriculture area. The city is a centre of administration, trade, education, health services, agricultural marketing and transport. At the same time, there has been an outward extension to the growth, which has brought conversion pressure to peri-urban agricultural land and questions about the quantity and quality of water supplies, sewerage, drainage, roads, open space and environmental protection. The present research paper focuses on sustainable land-use planning for the urban growth in Sri Ganganagar. The study has been conducted based on the secondary data obtained from Sri Ganganagar Master Plan (2017-2035), Census of India publications, report on industrial potential of the area, report on urban water supply and sewerage by the Government of Rajasthan, district reports, Agricultural report etc. The results indicate that Sri Ganganagar had a major physical growth in the period of 2001-2017. The built-up area of the city has grown from 1501.81 ha to 2741 ha and the urbanised area has grown from 2388.32 ha to 4111 ha. All residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and circulation uses rose, reflecting a widespread shift in the city's spatial organisation. The planning record also reveals that the agricultural land on the urban fringe, particularly in the south towards the Hanumangarh Padampur bypass has been under development pressure. The paper suggests that Sri Ganganagar needs to manage future development using compact and phased development, safeguarding high value irrigated farm land, urban-growth boundary, infill development, green-blue infrastructure, water-sensitive planning, coordinated planning and infrastructure investment and GIS-based system monitoring. It concludes that sustainable land-use planning should not be used to halt the growth of cities, rather it should be used to allow cities to grow without putting at risk any other important land uses, including those for agriculture and the environment. |
