Ayodhya: The Ayodhya Development Authority (ADA) on Monday issued the second phase of the Ayodhya Master Plan, covering 766.39 sq km of land in Ayodhya, Basti and Gonda districts.The master plan covers sectors including residential, commercial, mixed land use, industrial, office, public and semi-public facilities, transport and entertainment.ADA officials claimed that green land was included in the entertainment sector and there were 1,200 ponds as mentioned in revenue records.Vice-chairman of Ayodhya Development Authority Anurag Jain said, “This second phase of Ayodhya Master Plan has notified 353 villages of Gonda, Basti and Ayodhya, including the full areas of Ayodhya Municipal Corporation, Bhadarsa Municipal Board in Ayodhya and Nawabganj Municipal Board in Gonda.”“There are about 1,200 natural ponds of various sizes in this master plan, as we found in revenue records. For rural areas located outside the master plan urbanisation boundary, a highway facility zone land use has been proposed on both sides of highways and the proposed bypass, after the green belt, to meet commercial, social, economic and road-related needs,” he said.“This will enable commercial activities such as hotels, dhabas and petrol pumps to be developed along the highways,” Jain said.For natural expansion of revenue villages whose populated areas are located outside the proposed urbanisation boundary, an area around the rural population recorded in revenue records has been identified as a rural population expansion zone.Housing and urban planning department gave final approval to the development authority to implement the second phase of the master plan, which will govern future urbanisation in the region.Under the second phase, villages in neighbouring Basti and Gonda districts will also be integrated to support future needs.
