This mushroom growth of our urban population without sufficient planning is a sure sign of degeneration of not just our cities but the whole of India as well. Chaos would lead to more disputes, poorer distribution of resources, increased pollution and, of course, death of our heritage, the one and only unique strong-point India has had to moot until now.
Dear sir, The article is very interesting and present situation araises due to political decisions rather than on merits.The country got independence but developments centered only on the cities which were already developed by Britishers,Due to concentaration of all Govt.offices/industries in the areas like Mumbai,Chennai,Delhi,Hyderabad,Bangalore,Ahmedabad these areas developed resulting other areas neglected.Due to employment oppurtunities,availability of work in private activities,business locations at one place resulted in unauthorised housings and slums making cities like Delhi,Mumbai etc congested,This is high time authgorities should take measures not to develop the existing cities further but to deveope nearby villages or towns to decongest the localities already riddled with problems.The country has not developed uniformally but only few pockets developing.There are many important places in Maharastra which have little existance.Even Mumbai has no places of interesting to be seen by tourists comparing with other places in India.Though it is a rich city it is lacking in proper sanitatation,dirty roads,slums,etc.All new activities should not be allowed in these areas .
The basic thing that you must realise in India is public transport will never become better because strong lobbying from automotive makers (and perhaps you know what...) etc. these plans are either trashed or shredded or flushed in toilets.
Just imagine that if the government even wanted to improve the public transport to a large extent how much lobbying from every level does it have to taclke? And sometimes even people who honestly want to make a difference have to forget master plans and bend.
The article is well written and the author has managed to bring most of the problems into the discussion. However I suggest that it has to be looked into in an holistic manner. There are no simple solutions,so one must prepare to think out of box. My some suggestions are ... firstly stagger the timings according to the location. Like people going to VT may have their offices starting early and finishing early. and people north of dadar can have offices starting by say 2 hours difference. Next is move away industiries and pockets according to specialisation. If commercial and office business is their in South Mumbai, Other offices can be moved to New Bombay and even Pune ,pimpri,or NAgpur.People will enjoy better standards of life, greater health and more leisure. Make people travel only for emergency. And it will generate that greater interest and entreprenurship in people. Make available colleges,schools,hospitals,markets and other facilities in the small community. That communita can be from 50000 to 1 lakh people. It will also generate good quality,better understanding and infact may also lead to reduction in tension. so it has to be seen in its entirety.
trader are bones of the economy, you can not give the sipmle solution of closing the commercial activities. you just can not close the shops and commercial establishment for the reason of residential area. why trader suffer alone if trader had breake the law law sholud be impelement on mcd officail and politician also. the market value of shops or commercial area in residential area comes to zero. how can a small trader buy in the authorised commercial cetre and malls, he can not afford. you must apply restrictions or make the law of compulsory parking/toilets and related issues. how can you allow rhe activities of doctors./c.a./lawyer/architect and other proffessionals. it means those are less educated have no rightes of self employment.
I do agree that encroachments by few Elite are harmful & holding society ot ransom.Its more a problem of Law & Order.Otherwise the coloumnist is trying to pluck the rotten leaves & make his tree look better.The rot needs to be stemmed & roots need to be treated. Roots are Villages & Agrilculture. Make them strong enough the Rural-Urban migration will stop.At the same time stop commercialisation of Agricultural land,just to give it to away to gruops which don't even contribute .001% to the GDP or Economy. Indian Ecomony is not at all about swank cities & plush Urban areas where in few imposing structures of MNC's stand tall to dwarf social life.Indian economy is healthy Villages,productive Agriculture & contended people.We just can't lead life the Western Way or Urban centric.We were & shall remain rural folk.By rural we do not mean illiterate & ignorant.Knowledge & Civilisation were not & will never be the forte of Urbanism.Its a social phenomenon which we have been a part of in past.Just need to revisit that simple wisdom.Cure & prevention lies in there.Sindhu ancestors 5000 yrs ago had simple but firm rules to govern.Just think about it.
Yes, what u say is true. If we don't plan our cities properly, there would be utter chaos in the future. This is already becoming evident. Unplanned development only leads to confusion. Last year my cousin came back from America for a short visit. I told him how India was developing. He listened to all I said, & at last he said that India won't have problems in the short run, but by 2020 or 2030 India will be chaotic due to the unplanned developments. In Malaysia I saw how the government is alwasy looking at the long term impact of developmental projects. Leaders should have foresight, like what will India be in 2020, 2030, 2050? Not like will the RJD party win the next elections, or who will be in power for the next 5 years? India needs dreamers, not day dreamers. Day dreams never come true. Thanks to bollywood, most dreamers in India are day dreamers. Rich girl, meets poor hero, falls in love, & all is well that ends well. If only life were as simple as that! Indians have to realize that planning, coordination, implementation, & "doing what u say" will make us successful. Indians should watch the nation building programs on Disc & NatGeo channels, to see how a country progresses.
Congratulations Mr. Shenoy on a very well written article. Your observation on the traffic problem is perfect. The traffic problem can never be solved by building more and more roads, vehicles are growing at a much much faster pace. We need very good public transport system, car pool, restriction on cars, toll on road and similar measures. Most of the european cities have very good public transport and so with Japan and Singapore. Why can't we work on something which makes sense rather than wasting public money. Anyway, the present government is one of the most stupidest government that india got ever and nothing substantial and meaningful can be hoped from them.
