Can We Prevent Unplanned Urban Development I?

This graphic picture is from Greenpeace, India.
Here's the link.

I used to be a fan of Tavleen Singh's columns in the eighties. Recently I’ve rediscovered her and have started following her on twitter.  One of her tweets baldly declares, "Unless we realize the vital need for planned urban development India will become the largest slum in the world. And, sooner than we think." A dire warning, if ever there was one.

Planning of cities and distributing resources has to be undertaken by the government. It cannot be left to individuals or corporate interest.  Take migration to our cities. In the eighties I remember reading something that stuck in my mind - that a thousand people migrated to Mumbai every day. That means one thousand more people used the same, unchanged resources of Mumbai daily - resources like water, electricity, land, our roads and footpaths. I don’t have the numbers for today. This is a huge burden on the city’s finite resources and there simply might not be enough to go around unless our government has plans to increase those resources. There will come a time when people will use any means simply to be able to get their hands on these fast depleting resources. Take land in our cities to build on. In the sixties and seventies there was enough for everyone. Then, as demand outgrew supply, our flats started getting smaller and more expensive.

If our builders had their way, they’d build wherever there is space. Take Gilbert Hill in Mumbai, for example. It is one of only two 65 million year old rocks on Earth. The other one is in the US and is declared a heritage site - protected and preserved by the government. The one in Mumbai is hemmed in by tall buildings and desecrated by humans, has a temple on top with a resident caretaker and builders are trying to get permission to build on it. Over 33,000 people have signed the petition to save Gilbert Hill.

What chance do the poor have to live in comfort? They simply put up shanty houses and now, we have shanty towns within our cities. They also encroach on our footpaths, railway stations and any public place – as long as they can remain in the city to eke out a living and feed their families.

Villagers come in their droves too as there is no proper infrastructure in their villages. I have written about their investing in wiring for their houses in anticipation of the government’s promise of an electricity grid. The government did not fulfil that promise in thousands of our villages. Thanks to private enterprise and having to re-invest again, they now have solar panels. (The post is here) I leave it to you to judge whether the government is short of funds or whether individuals in the government siphon off funds allocated for various noble sounding projects for the good of our villages.  And that is just one of their (the villagers’) problems. There’s the lack of pucca roads. No infrastructure and no connectivity? It is difficult to eke out a living under those circumstances. The obvious solution for many - why not migrate to our cities?

Cities like Mumbai attract the well heeled, villagers, farmers and the poor alike. Tavleen is right. Urban development in Mumbai is definitely unplanned. 

When they migrate, the well-off get assimilated more easily and their adding to the burden on the city’s resources is less visible. What problems do the poor face and how do they affect the city’s resources? Their living quarters are crowded and cramped. They either have relations in our slums or they encroach on our footpaths. They have nowhere to carry out their daily ablutions. It has to be public places. They can only afford coal or kerosene as fuel. These aren't good for the air we breathe. In crowded and cramped conditions with so many people breathing and going about their daily lives, coal lacks enough oxygen to burn efficiently. As a result, the end product is not only carbon dioxide but carbon monoxide. This is poisonous. The quality of the air they breathe suffers. Their health suffers. And to think they've had to leave their villages and farms where the air they breathe is much less poluted!


Part II discusses Garbage and what we can do. One of the most obvious outcomes of unplanned migration to our cities has been garbage. Some known and unknown facts about this monumental problem...




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