Section 31 in West Bengal Town and Country (Planning and Development) Act, 1979
31. [Land Use and Development Control Plan.] [Substituted by Section 4(b)(i), ibid for Outline Development Plan.].
(1)A Planning Authority or Development Authority shall, within two years of the declaration of a Planning Area, prepare a plan (hereinafter called the [Land Use and Development Control Plan] [Substituted by Section 4(b)(ii), ibid for Outline Development Plan.]) for the Planning Area and forward a copy thereof to the State Government :Provided that the concerned authority may prepare the plan in respect of any portion of the Planning Area, but the plan in respect of the entire Planning Area shall be completed within a period of three years or within such time as the State Government may from time to time extend.(2)The [Land Use and Development Control Plan] [Substituted by Section 4(b)(ii), ibid for Outline Development Plan.] in any area shall be a written statement, -(a)formulating the policy and the general proposals including maps of the Planning Authority or the Development Authority in respect of the development and general use of land in that area including measures for the improvement of the physical environment;(b)stating relationship between these proposals and general proposals for the development and general use of land in neighbouring areas which may be expected to affect the area; and(c)containing such other matters as may be prescribed or directed by the State Government.(3)A [Land Use and Development Control Plan] [Substituted by Section 4(b)(ii), ibid for Outline Development Plan.] in any area shall contain or be accompanied by such maps, diagrams, illustrations and descriptive matters as the Planning Authority or the Development Authority thinks appropriate for the purpose of explaining or illustrating the proposals in the plan and such diagrams, illustrations and descriptive matters shall be treated as parts of the plan.(4)The [Land Use and Development Control Plan] [Substituted by Section 4(b)(ii), ibid for Outline Development Plan.] may also -(a)(i)indicate broadly the manner in which Planning Authority or the Development Authority proposes that land in such area should be used;(ii)indicate areas or buildings requiring preservation and conservation for historical, architectural, environmental and ecological and religious purposes;(b)allocate areas or zones of land for use -(i)for residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, natural scenic beauty, forest, wild life, natural resources, fishery and landscaping;(ii)for public and semi-public open spaces, parks and playgrounds;(iii)for such other purposes as the Planning Authority or the Development Authority may think fit;(c)indicate, define or provide for -(i)the existing and proposed national highways, arterial roads, ring roads and major streets;(ii)the existing and proposed lines of communications, including railways, transports, air-ports, canals and linkage between towns and villages;(iii)the existing and proposed amenities, services and utilities, systems for water supply including improvement of lake, rivers, fountains and the like, sewerage, drainage and waste disposal, generation and distribution of electric power and distribution of gas, etc.;(d)include regulations (hereinafter called zoning and sub-division regulations) to control within each zone the location, height, number of storeys and size of buildings and other structures, the size of yards, courts and other open spaces and the use of buildings, structures and land and sub-division of land and the street alignments, set back distances, embankment, constructional activities destroying natural scenic beauty and provide for amenities in hill areas and coastal areas and such other issues as may be considered appropriate by the Authority;(e)locate cluster of villages and huts and designate land for hats, markets, cottage industry, livestock, pasture festivals, fairs, melas and like community facilities and conservation of trees and forests;(f)indicate areas or zones for catchment, soil conservation, plantation, unsafe for any construction, subsidence for any reason including operation of mines, earthquake prone area and control of natural disaster.Explanation.- The expression "mine" has the same meaning as defined in the Mines Act,1952 (35 of 1952);(g)designate land as subject to acquisition for any public purposes.
