Abstract
Pimpri-Chinchwad township is the most developed industrial belt in the State of Maharashtra accommodating some of the most reputed industrial companies of the country such as TELCO, SKF, Bajaj Auto, Garware Nylon, Philips, Alfa Laval, Bajaj Tempo, etc. With the advent of rapid growth and expansion in the area, the Department of Urban Development, Government of Maharashtra notified extension of the erstwhile Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) limits by merging 18 fringe villages within the corporation limits. The total area of newly merged fringe villages is about 84.51 sq. km. Development plan (DP) was prepared for these newly merged villages in order to yield a guided future growth in the region. PCMC was the nodal agency for the preparation of DP and the job was awarded to Tata Consultancy Services.
Major objective of the study was to prepare a DP in a duration of one year on a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform ensuring the connectivity and integration of these villages with the rest of the region using spatial information obtained through remote sensing data, village maps and Survey of India (SOI) maps.
Some of major visionary goals in the preparation of DP were to:
- Ensure proper utilisation of land in the interest of the residents of the area
- Provision of an efficient traffic and transportation network
- Make provisions for civic amenities and social facilities to cater to the present and future needs of the residents community
- Reserve sites for public utilities, transport and other services to meet present as well as future requirements of the area
- Preserve buildings and areas of historical, religious and cultural significance
- Improve existing living conditions, physical quality of life, and guide future development.
Major Phases involved in the preparation of DP are given below
- Survey, analysis and findings
- Preparation of Base Map and Existing Land-use (ELU)
- Structure Plan
- Development Plan
Following surveys were carried out to assess the socio-economic, travel and environmental characteristics of the study area.
- Traffic and Transportation Surveys
- Industrial Survey
- Housing Survey
- Surveys on existing facilities such as health care, education, shopping and recreational etc
- Environmental Surveys
For the purpose of preparing “Development Plan” a base map precisely showing the limits of the planning area, along with the important physical features such as existing roads, water bodies, hillocks, contours, etc. thereon, is a must. For this purpose, Satellite images of IRS 1C and LISS-III were procured from NRSA for the PCMC region. Various features such as rivers / streams, water bodies, forests, agricultural lands, barren lands, limits of settlements etc., were extracted from these images. The extraction process made use of the latest classification technique. Required numbers of ground checks were carried out to determine the accuracy of the classified features. The outputs of these processes were classified and a land cover map was prepared. From the satellite imagery various congested pockets within the villages were identified for the purpose of detailed survey. The classified land cover map was then integrated with the base map, which is the first step in preparation of the ELU map.
Other Collateral maps utilised to extract the information required for the base map included
- SOI toposheets of 1:50,000 scale procured from the maps division of SOI, Pune.
- Village / Cadastral Maps (Newly Merged 18 Villages) procured from the District Inspector of Land Record (DILR) Office. The scale of the procured maps was 1:10,000.
- Maps of regional plans collected from the Town Planning Office of Pune. These maps are already in the GIS-compatible digital format.
- Sanctioned Regional Plans of Pune District
- Sanctioned regional plans for the Pune District collected from the office of the Assistant Director of Town Planning.
- Regional Plan Report Part-I (ELU)
- Regional Plan Report Part-II (Proposed Land Use)
- Existing Development Plans for the Old City (86 sq.Km.)
Following steps were carried out to prepare a Base Map for the study area
- Scanning and Digitising of Main Features from SOI Toposheets
- Edge-Matching of Vector Data from SOI Toposheets
- Digitisation of Village Maps / Cadastral Maps
- Integration of Regional Plans Maps
- Creation of Initial Base Map
- Remote Sensing Data
- Browsing and procurement of Satellite Image from NRSA
- Collection of Ground Control Points (GCPs) and Registration of Satellite Image into Project Database
- Remote Sensing Data Interpretation
- Initial Image Interpretation
- Ground Truth Data Collection
- Land Use Classification from Satellite Image
- Creation of Plan Database
- Import of Base Map into Database
- Import of Satellite Images into Database
- Updation of Base Map
- Detailed Survey of the Planning Area
- Integration of Survey Details into the Base Map / ELU
- ELU Map Preparation
- Creation of 3D Model
- Existing Land-Use (ELU)
The base map on which the existing land use details were superimposed indicated land use intensities and their distribution, trend of growth and direction in the study area.
Though the overall study was to prepare a development plan, the present paper is limited to the preparation of the structure plan. The transportation link data was extracted from the base map, existing land use map and other traffic and transportation surveys.
The traffic and transportation system for 18 newly merged villages of the Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal area was perceived in a regional context, comprehensively with respect to the existing linkages with the existing PCMC area, regional traffic on National and State highways passing through the area and the entire Pune Metropolitan Area (PMA) at a broader level. This was an important step for effectively integrating the newly merged areas with the existing PCMC area in particular and the entire PMA region in general.
A comprehensive travel demand-forecasting model for projecting trip generation, trip distribution, modal split and trip assignment in the planning area was used. As the planning area including the existing PCMC area is an integral part of the greater Pune Metropolitan Area, the findings of a recent study on ‘Feasibility of High Capacity Mass Transport System (HCMTS) for Pune Metropolitan Area 1998’ were adopted as the basis for developing the travel demand forecasting methodology for the planning area.
Relationships between planning parameters (population, employment and education enrolment) and travel demand as established in the HCMTS study was adopted for generating the Origin-Destination matrix in terms of the number of person trips. Combined passenger and commodity trip matrices were established for future years based on the macro-level proposed land uses for future years. SATURN a specialised transportation assignment tool was utilised to establish zone to zone travel time matrix and shortest paths. Transport network proposals for the development plan were formulated on the basis of future traffic projections, proposed road network of the regional plan, present accessibility of land parcels and site factors. The general considerations for structure plan were:
- Regional Plan Proposals
- Regional Traffic
- Connectivity to Village Gaothans
- Site constraints and existing Structures
- Accessibility to proposed residential areas and work centres
Structure plan depicting the macro-level land use distribution and transport network of major roads was considered as the backbone for the micro-level arrangement of the land uses in the master plan.