I came to Kolkata after my retirement not because I was a Bengali, but because real estate prices were comparatively lower than other metropolitan cities and also because after Delhi this was the only city I was familiar with, perhaps because my maternal grandmother lived here and we visited her regularly. I have spent most of my work-life in Delhi. But each time I wanted to buy an apartment, I could never find an appropriate one in Delhi, in which I would like to spend the autumn years of my life. Whereas, every time I looked for a flat in Kolkata, I always found one. This obviously indicated that Kolkata would be a more comfortable place to live! But lo and behold! I was in for a rude shock! I had booked a builder’s flat bang on the Eastern Metro Bypass, adjacent to Hiland Park, thinking such a location would give me an easy connectivity to the airport. That it did. But when I came to occupy the apartment in 2010 after three years from booking, I found the place had deteriorated. The metalled road had eroded through repeated use by trucks bringing in building materials (for this is an upcoming area), the promised Ganga water had not reached and the sewerage and the drainage systems were not in place. Moreover, no one in the neighbourhood knew when it would get done. Obviously, my immediate reaction was that of repulsion and regret for having come to the city. In three years’ time the place had not developed. The question that came to my mind is, “how long does it take for a residential neighbourhood to develop in Kolkata”? While the city boasts of spontaneous growth, where is the spontaneity? Why does the Local Government sanction plans and give Completion Certificates if it cannot provide the civic amenities, especially when a development fee is charged from each developer/owner? Other than electricity this area called Sammilani Park had nothing. The roads and the lanes were not metalled, there was no drainage or sewerage, nor filtered water. Normally cities are supposed to have the basic utility infrastructure and that too in a metropolitan city. In my estimation Kolkata appeared a virtual slum with residents very complacent about the lack of such amenities. A typical Bengali is very quick in retorting back with a rude answer to anything amiss; but not when it comes to hard work and leadership for improvement. The latter is reserved only for gaining political mileage. It really surprised me, for in my younger days Kolkata used to be clean, streets were washed twice a day (the only other city where I found streets being washed was Paris), and people were polite and friendly and culturally rich. There was an air of sophistication. Residential neighbourhoods had wonderful communities and the city was reasonably safe. Today residents do not care to know each other, extending any help is remote and the city teaming with thugs and thieves. Morning newspapers are full of crime reports. What has made Kolkata so? Was Calcutta better than Kolkata? Was colonialism better than democracy? The controversy I found was in lack of leadership in development and management, though here every issue is politicised! At that time leadership is not in short supply!
However, all this is passé now that the government has changed! One is now looking with hope towards the new government. With wonderful promises made, will development happen with speed? My part of the city (ie where I live) cannot be called peripheral anymore. Or does it take a lifetime to cross the transition? In planning norms thirty years is considered to be one generation? By then a young person grows old and an old person dies! Do we really have to wait till death for the city or the neighbourhood to develop? No wonder real estate prices do not rise in Kolkata; for initially an area is under-developed; and by the time it develops the place becomes so congested that people do not like to move into such areas. So, what happens then? Residents continue to live in under-developed pockets with lack of sanitation, deprived of water, using unmetalled roads where water collects during rains. Is this urban living? As a citizen I feel ashamed of myself and my country for being unable to help it grow decently, especially when I visit other countries and see the advanced development. We have no pride in ourselves. Our government does not work up to our expectations. It is a sad situation, with upper middle class people with high aspirations living in squalor. And, of course, the government or the management will always accuse the citizens of apathy after what we go through!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Neighbourhood Planning
The CM wants to convert Kolkata into London – a desire too far fetched unless concerted efforts are made for all parts of the city and for different aspects of development! With years of deterioration and neglect, the city requires intense social, environmental, physical and technological enhancement. While upgrading infrastructure for the city as a whole will have to be done by the development agencies of the State Government, planning for the smaller areas, the neighbourhoods, can be delegated to the community and the ward councillors.
Kolkata’s concept of “para” was once very popular. It encouraged the “adda” of the young and the old, scouting on the sit-outs of residential buildings. The latter has always been a space for socializing (in India) from the olden times. But today with globalization, that culture has waned off. In the din of daily life, everyone is busy trying to make a fast buck. No one has the time to socialize with neighbours. Life has become more self-centered. This demand on time is more due to the struggle for our daily existence. It has become so difficult to put our body and soul together, that we have started ignoring even our neighbours. Yet, in times of difficulty it is the neighbours who come to your rescue (perhaps I am wrong in the context of Kolkata!).
As a Bengali from outside Kolkata (I moved to the city a year ago), I find a pronounced anonymity in the residential neighbourhoods of the city. The once friendly neighbourhoods where children played in the streets are gone. What could be the reason? Is it because the open spaces have been filled with buildings, or is it because there is no proper landuse and commerce has taken over all the nooks and corners where residents used to hang around for small talks, thereby adding anonymity and crime? Why are residents of a neighbourhood not able to relate to each other? What features or characteristics are lacking for common interests? I hear from many friends that people who go for morning walks in parks or where children who play in the few playgrounds that remain in the city have something in common. Is it then the lack of open space?
Given the city conditions today, two types of planning are required to make a city more safe and functional. At the macro-level a city requires major roads, large commercial complexes (to cater to trends in globalization), educational institutions and entertainment. At the local-level neighbourhoods need to be planned. A city belongs to its citizens. So it is the duty of every citizen to look after the city, for it is they who use it. A common complaint to be heard frequently in India is that the Government does nothing! But very few think of joining hands with the Government to build the city. This is because we have not developed in us a sense of ownership that nurtures a sense of responsibility. We litter our roads, spit everywhere and urinate at all street corners. If objected, we even go to the extent of beating up for social policing or murdering those who point out our mistakes (Times of India, July 2011). Does this happen in any other country? The Government elsewhere has built a system of control and regulation that people abide by. When will we change? The same person who litters the road or urinates in the roadside, in India, abides by all rules and regulations outside the country. Or is it because we have no rules at all?
Kolkata does not have a Master Plan. What Kolkata has is a Basic Development Plan, which was just a strategic plan brought together with the help of Ford Foundation way back in 1966. Hence unless we do some physical planning, Mamata Bannerjee’s efforts will only remain as piece-meal efforts at improving the metropolis. Kolkata’s landuse is in a mess. We need to organize some of our areas to bring some semblance of order in the city. As for the neighbourhoods, give it over to communities to fend for themselves; of course with the support of the city machinery. Ward-level planning has already been legalized by the 74th Amendment of the Constitution. Decentralization has been propagated by the Government. The boroughs and the wards already exist. It is just that it does not relate to the citizens. The Nagarik Committees also exist, but without much effect. Why cannot we systematize neighbourhood planning and make our citizens safer and more content in their own houses and on the road? Only Kolkata will have to choose what it wants to do!
Neighbourhood planning is done in many countries the world over. Europe, the US, Canada and several other developed countries have taken to it. In fact, neibourhood planning can be found even in Delhi, with a slight deviation – that it is the Government that takes the initiatives. But Kolkata being not a planned city, neighbourhood planning can be initiated by the community. It will be an introduction to a new phenomenon, which all other Indian cities can emulate. Let us join hands and initiate something new that we would later be proud of! Bengal has always been a pioneer. Why not now?
Kolkata’s concept of “para” was once very popular. It encouraged the “adda” of the young and the old, scouting on the sit-outs of residential buildings. The latter has always been a space for socializing (in India) from the olden times. But today with globalization, that culture has waned off. In the din of daily life, everyone is busy trying to make a fast buck. No one has the time to socialize with neighbours. Life has become more self-centered. This demand on time is more due to the struggle for our daily existence. It has become so difficult to put our body and soul together, that we have started ignoring even our neighbours. Yet, in times of difficulty it is the neighbours who come to your rescue (perhaps I am wrong in the context of Kolkata!).
As a Bengali from outside Kolkata (I moved to the city a year ago), I find a pronounced anonymity in the residential neighbourhoods of the city. The once friendly neighbourhoods where children played in the streets are gone. What could be the reason? Is it because the open spaces have been filled with buildings, or is it because there is no proper landuse and commerce has taken over all the nooks and corners where residents used to hang around for small talks, thereby adding anonymity and crime? Why are residents of a neighbourhood not able to relate to each other? What features or characteristics are lacking for common interests? I hear from many friends that people who go for morning walks in parks or where children who play in the few playgrounds that remain in the city have something in common. Is it then the lack of open space?
Given the city conditions today, two types of planning are required to make a city more safe and functional. At the macro-level a city requires major roads, large commercial complexes (to cater to trends in globalization), educational institutions and entertainment. At the local-level neighbourhoods need to be planned. A city belongs to its citizens. So it is the duty of every citizen to look after the city, for it is they who use it. A common complaint to be heard frequently in India is that the Government does nothing! But very few think of joining hands with the Government to build the city. This is because we have not developed in us a sense of ownership that nurtures a sense of responsibility. We litter our roads, spit everywhere and urinate at all street corners. If objected, we even go to the extent of beating up for social policing or murdering those who point out our mistakes (Times of India, July 2011). Does this happen in any other country? The Government elsewhere has built a system of control and regulation that people abide by. When will we change? The same person who litters the road or urinates in the roadside, in India, abides by all rules and regulations outside the country. Or is it because we have no rules at all?
Kolkata does not have a Master Plan. What Kolkata has is a Basic Development Plan, which was just a strategic plan brought together with the help of Ford Foundation way back in 1966. Hence unless we do some physical planning, Mamata Bannerjee’s efforts will only remain as piece-meal efforts at improving the metropolis. Kolkata’s landuse is in a mess. We need to organize some of our areas to bring some semblance of order in the city. As for the neighbourhoods, give it over to communities to fend for themselves; of course with the support of the city machinery. Ward-level planning has already been legalized by the 74th Amendment of the Constitution. Decentralization has been propagated by the Government. The boroughs and the wards already exist. It is just that it does not relate to the citizens. The Nagarik Committees also exist, but without much effect. Why cannot we systematize neighbourhood planning and make our citizens safer and more content in their own houses and on the road? Only Kolkata will have to choose what it wants to do!
Neighbourhood planning is done in many countries the world over. Europe, the US, Canada and several other developed countries have taken to it. In fact, neibourhood planning can be found even in Delhi, with a slight deviation – that it is the Government that takes the initiatives. But Kolkata being not a planned city, neighbourhood planning can be initiated by the community. It will be an introduction to a new phenomenon, which all other Indian cities can emulate. Let us join hands and initiate something new that we would later be proud of! Bengal has always been a pioneer. Why not now?
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