Kolkata: The Bengal government is planning to conduct a comprehensive socio-economic and physical survey across rural areas of Howrah and Hooghly districts to create an updated digital picture of how these rapidly changing regions are evolving, which in turn is expected to help design a new land use policy.
Covering about 215 sq km, the exercise is meant to give planners a clearer understanding of life and infrastructure on the metropolitan fringes, it was learnt.
Sources in the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), which is executing the project, said the survey will help create a unified database that can guide long-term planning for the outer edges of the metropolitan region. Officials said the aim is to ensure that development in these rural areas is supported by reliable, ground-level
information, rather than outdated records or assumptions.
Officials in the Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department (UDMA) said the new survey will feed into the preparation of fresh Land Use and Development Control Plans under the state’s Town and Country Planning Act. Much of the existing information on these rural belts, they said, is old and does not capture recent settlement expansion, shifts in land use or the mounting pressure on basic amenities such as roads, drinking water, drainage and housing.
An official said the survey will involve going village to village to record physical features, map existing infrastructure and collect details about people’s socio-economic conditions. Technical teams will prepare GIS-based base maps, land-use maps and infrastructure maps and compile the findings into a comprehensive planning report and data bank. This will help identify gaps in services and highlight areas where development has not kept pace with population growth or changing land-use patterns.
A KMDA official working on the initiative said the outer edge of the metropolitan area has been changing faster than planners expected. “These rural stretches are no longer slow-moving. You need updated information to understand what is happening on the ground,” the official said, adding that the survey aims to bring these regions into a more organised planning framework that reflects current realities.
The survey, which has been allotted 32 weeks for completion once work begins, is expected to become the backbone for future development decisions. Officials said the resulting data bank will serve as a common reference for agencies working on rural infrastructure and help prevent unplanned growth.