Planning for Metropolitan Development-Calcutta s Basic Development Plan, 1966-86 A Post-Mortem

Planning for Metropolitan Development Calcutta's Basic Development Plan, 1966-86: A Post-Mortem Amaresh Bagchi With a 20-year perspective, the Basic Development Plan (BDP)for Calcutta suggested a strategy of developing not only Calcutta but also the wider region covering West Bengal and the neighbouring states, especially "a few economically conspicuous centres", stressing strongly that Calcutta being the primate city in eastern India, its problems could not be solved unless its hinterland was also developed. What distinguished the BDP from a 'Master Plan' was its approach to planning for urban development as a positive, integrated package designed to strengthen not only the civic infrastructure but also the economic base of the city rather than viewing the task as a Single shot exercise1 confined to working out the contours of future land use with only a regulatory role for the local government.