Human Settlements & Planning

Submitted by, Kameshwari.V Prabhakaran.P

ABOUT THE CITY Udaipur, called as the City of Lakes, is situated in Southern part of Rajasthan state. Udaipur city had been the capital of Mewar rulers for centuries THE PROBLEMS FACED NOW
Udaipur, once known for the beauty of its water bodies is now facing the destruction of its glorious heritage. The unique lake system is now facing a number of challenges to its existence dumping of solid waste, uncontrolled growth of water hyacinth, silting due to construction activities. In order to retain the name City of Lakes, requires maintenance of the city environment, the ecological balance and biodiversity of the region.

In 1568 A.D, when the Mughal emperor Akbar captured Chittor, which was the capital of Mewar till then,Udai Singh permanently moved the capital to the site of his residence, which became the city of Udaipur. He constructed the lake Udai Sagar along with the city. From then Udaipur remained the capital of the Rajput kingdom of Mewar ruled by Ranawats. As the Mughal empire weakened, the Sisodia ranas, and later maharanas, reasserted their independence and recaptured most of Mewar region except the fort of Chittor. Udaipur remained the capital of the state, which became a princely state of British India in 1818. After India's Independence in 1947, the Maharaja of Udaipur acceded to the Government of India, and Mewar was integrated into Rajasthan state. Pichola, Fateh Sagar, Rang Sagar, Swaroop Sagar and Doodh Talai are some of the famous lakes of Udaipur. The city falls on the Golden Quadrilateral, lying midway between Delhi and Mumbai on National Highway (NH) 8; it is around 650 kilometres from Delhi and Mumbai.

NATURAL SETTING

Udaipur District is located in the southern most part of Rajasthan. It lies between 2435 N and 2458 N Latitudes and 7341 E and 7368 E Longitudes. Udaipur city is about 598m above mean sea level. The district has a total area of about 64.1 Sq.km in 1997. River Ahar flows diagonally from north west to south west of the city.
PHYSIOGRAPHY

Geographically, Udaipur district is bound by Rajsamand and Pali districts in the North, Sirohi District in the north west, Chittaurgarh District in the East, Bangarpur district in the South and Gujarat state in the west. The city is encircled by Aravallis ranges of height ranging from 558 m to 767 m above M.S.L. from North to south. It has undulating and rocky terrain. The Aravalli ranges forms a saucer bowl shaped valley which slopes towards the lakes.

POPULATION As per 2001 Census, the population of Udaipur city was 3.89 lakhs with an average density of 35 persons per acre. The administrative boundary of Udaipur municipal area spreads over 64.1 sq km. According to 1991 census, 50 % of the citys population resides in the walled city which is 515 acres ( 8% of the total area). There was sudden rise in population during 1970 - 80 as there was a lot of industrial development in the city. Floating population: The city has a huge inflow of domestic and foreign tourists. Tourist in flow has increased recently, but there was a decrease of tourist between 2001 2003 as the lakes got dried up due to less rainfall.

Trends of the Development (19462005) The citys growth direction generally is towards the East, North East and South East. The city didnt grow in the west and North west mainly due to the presence of Aravalli hills. The city has grown from 17.17 sq.km to 64.1 sq.km in the period of 1946 1997 .

Sudden rise in the developmental activities in the city has given rise to so many problems like lack of good infrastructural facilities, rise in migration, growth of slums, all of this leading to the deterioration of the lake system.

Draft Master plan for Udaipur city was made in 2002 for 2022. This plan proposes additional 20% of land as urbanisable area. 57% of area is proposed to be under residential land use, followed by recreational area of 10.39%.

Proposed Land use distribution - 2022 The master plan proposes to have an Population density of 50 persons per acre outside city centre.

A. Water Pollution The natural drainage of the city is towards the lakes which enhances the flow of pollutants towards the lakes. The areas around the lakes have open drains, which directly discharge their waste water into the lakes. As most of the houses in this area does not have bathrooms, people use the lakes for their bathing and washing needs. Map

B. SolidWaste About 400 500 tonnes of solid waste is dumped on the banks of the lakes. C. Deforestation Large scale uncontrolled mining of marble and other minerals has lead to deforestation in slopes of ravalli hills.

D. Transport There is lack of efficient mass transportation system . It also faces problems of congestion and encroachment of roads which hinders the smooth flow of traffic.