Unseasonal rains have wreaked havoc in many parts of Maharashtra over the past week. The worst affected was Pune, where many parts of the city were under several feet of water as rains lashed it for two hours. Damage to property is enormous but nobody has come forward to accept the responsibility for the disaster.
It was only in recent times that Chennai was flooded for days. Much noise was made about indiscriminate constructions and choking up of natural water channels due to silt and encroachments. Hardly any steps have been taken since to rectify the situation even though the disaster has recurred.
Fires break out in congested city areas, houses collapse in monsoon, gas leaks occur but fire fighting vehicles are unable to reach trouble spots since access roads are cluttered by parked cars or hawkers. Lives are lost, property is destroyed but nothing happens or matters. Life goes on as usual.
As of now, India’s nearly 40 percent of population lives in urban areas. In a state like Maharashtra, it is almost 60 percent and there is no sign of the swelling slowing down. The result is that more and more people are crammed into less and contracting spaces. The consequences are obvious but no action is taken.
Discussing Pune’s example in more details since it is the freshest. The city experienced unprecedented rainfall in two hours Monday evening. It was over 100 mm whereas the city’s storm water drain network can handle just 60 mm of rains in a span of 24 hours. Why did this happen? Firstly, no government has bothered to upgrade and modernise the storm water drain system over the past at least 40 years. Secondly, as the city went on expanding, natural water outlets started vanishing below roads and towers. Thus, the rainwater had no escape. Thirdly, the so-called disaster management mechanism was absent. The result was flooding in several parts of the city.
This is a representative case but is applicable to all major towns and cities across India. Town planning is just for academic discussions and creating official records. In all major cities, a development plan (DP) is supposed to be recreated ever 20 years and to be implemented over the next two decades so as to regulate the city’s development. A planned city means good civic amenities like water and power supply, roads, open spaces, schools, markets, hospitals and so on. Anyone familiar with Mumbai will undoubtedly say that none of this is available though announcements are made time and again that Mumbai will be developed into a world-class metropolis.
It is compulsory for all municipal corporations to prepare and implement DPs. Sadly, very few civic bodies bother to deal seriously with this sensitive issue. It is presumed that no DP is implemented beyond 20 percent of its original recommendations. Then it is tampered with by politicians. Moreover, newer areas are brought under the jurisdiction of municipal corporations. A day comes when civic services just are unable to handle the load and quietly give up.
Similar is the tale of Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Noida and all cities with local variations. No committee or survey is needed to identify problems like pollution, flooding, traffic snarls, overcrowding, a lack of open spaces or absence of basic amenities like clean water supply or sanitation. Lakhs of people are found living in sub-human conditions for generations with no prospect of a better future.
Why has the situation degenerated so much? Why no effective steps are taken at any level? Initiatives like Smart City are launched but their achievements or failures are not declared. It is futile to blame just the government for this. Few elected representatives or members of the public care to dwell on such matters and hence they lapse into oblivion. Otherwise, it becomes a political blame game. Hence, its significance is lost.
Away from major urban centres, smaller towns are seen flooded year after year. People complain, ministers visit and reassure, media criticizes and the authorities promise to tackle the problem soon. However, it is discovered only the next year that the situation has only deteriorated further. This sordid chain of events has been witnessed this monsoon in all parts of Maharashtra.
This has been emphasised by the Pune disaster. All the usual civic lapses have brought about this disastrous situation. Pune’s outlying areas have four dams which supply water to the city. When they overflow, their waters flow into the Mutha river that traverses the city. In earlier times, there were open nullahs all over Pune. In the mad race for constructing more and more buildings, these natural channels were filled up. The other major cause of the disaster is the total neglect of cleansing the storm water drainages. This resulted in rain water accumulating in the older parts of the town.
Nowadays, there is a craze to concretise more and more roads in cities. This work is done without giving attention to the resultant more height of the concrete roads. The existing plinth level of buildings along such roads becomes lower due to this. Expectedly, rain waters enter buildings damaging apartments and installations like meter and pump rooms.
Thus, disasters occur, the reasons behind such occurrences are known, assurances are given to improve the situation but nothing happens. The only effective measure to prevent unbridled urbanisation is to delink politics of vote banks and hand over city development to experts. Once vested interests are stopped form interfering into civic affairs, scientific planning can become possible and its implementation effective.
In earlier years, elected representatives were connected with the grassroots workers. Hence they used to be informed about the problems in their areas. That link is no more. Civic officials used to tour their areas. That hardly happens nowadays. People, too, are less aware and alert because their daily life struggle sap their energy. All these factors culminate in their apathy. There is no sense of belonging between a city and its residents.
In the emerging world, people have every right to demand satisfactory civic services. The problem is that such demands are not heard. Unless there is a symbiosis between society and its members, no healthy is developed. Creating this awareness will be the first step for a better tomorrow.
A Column By
Dilip Chaware – Senior Editor
A media professional for 43 years, with extensive experience of writing on
a variety of subjects; he is also a documentary producer and book author.
