To convert Bhopal into a smart city it is essential to restore, upgrade and
maintain its heritage, including its historical structures, the iconic Upper
Lake, etc. Apart from these, efforts need to be simultaneously made to increase
the revenues of the Municipal Corporation. So said the members of the Indian
Administrative Service of the local state administration in a brain-storming
session conducted by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation in order to elicit their
views on the proposed upgrade of the town into a smart city. The Municipal
Corporation is making a serious bid to have the city included in the list of 20
which will be taken up for conversion into smart cities and, hence, is in the
process of eliciting opinions in this regard from every section of society.
Even the ministers, especially the Home Minister, have expressed similar views.
The Home Minister made a special mention of the need of efforts towards
beautification and conservation of the Upper Lake
It was quite strange to read these pearls of wisdom put forth by the
representatives of the government which consistently has made efforts to
degrade and kill the Upper Lake and has not been receptive to the suggestions
and recommendations of environmentalists, limnologists and several informal
organizations like the Bhopal Citizens’ Forum for adoption of measures for
conservation of the Lake. Not only did it largely render the Rs. 267 crore
project supported by a Japanese Bank ineffective, it also has neither rejected
or approved the draft plan for conservation of the Lake submitted more than a
year ago by the Centre of Environment Planning & Technology – a reputed
organization of Ahmedabad – which the government had engaged. The report is
gathering dust in the Secretariat and the government neither seems to be
bothered about the need for urgent steps of conservation of the water body nor
about the seeming waste of public money in engaging the reputed organisation.
It would be interesting to ascertain the amounts spent on conservation of the
Lake without practically achieving any positive result.
Besides, the recent report of allotment of a few hundred acres of land
for construction of a cricket stadium of international standards and some
colleges and universities in the catchment area of the Lake proves that the
government is unmindful of the impact of its actions on the Upper Lake and is prepared
to sacrifice it for reasons best known to it. It cannot be anybody’s case that
the government is unaware of the implications of its actions. After all, a ‘catchment
is the lifeline of a water body’ degrading it would be perilous for the water
body. Surely, the bureaucrats in its Department of Environment are aware of the
sanctity of the catchments. And yet, constructions in the catchments have been
consistently allowed and from Sposts Authority of India outfits to Jagaran University and a few
colleges,e Chirayu Hospital and Medical College in Phanda, all have come up in
recent years breaking all the environmental norms.
The government got away with them because the National Green Tribunal
was yet to be born. That is why the Lake could be promoted then in a massive
way for “rest and recreation” by the State Tourism Development Corporation
under the guidance and assistance of the current Home Minister who was then the
Minister for Urban Development & Administration. He also espoused the
amusement park, Sair Sapata, on the banks of the Lake which not only pollutes
the waters of the Lake but also has driven away the vibrant bird life of Van
Vihar. Only this morning a report in a national daily quoted a local
bird-watcher that whereas earlier around 10000 wading birds used to congregate
in the area their numbers now have shrunk to only 1500. It was not for nothing
that the place was designated as an Important Bird Area by the Bird Life
International and a Ramsar Site under the Convention of Wetlands of
International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat. The birds now avoid the
Lake and overfly it, and justifiably so, given the noise and disturbance caused
by human activities and its increasingly polluted waters, threatening the
Wetland’s status as a Ramsar Site and an Important Bird Area.
It, therefore, does not seem to lie in the mouth of the various
representatives of the government to talk about conservation of the Upper Lake.
While the politicians in the government have largely went out only to milk it,
the bureaucrats, supposedly more knowledgeable, have only bided their time
showing no spine in standing up to their political masters to uphold the
environmental norms in regard to cluttering up the Lake’s banks and its
catchments.. That they were all there to safeguard the interest of the people
has seemingly been lost on them. In the process, a millennium old asset created
by a beneficent feudal to serve the people is being destroyed by democratically
elected rulers – peoples’ interest being nowhere in their scheme of things.
Now they are talking of conservation of even the heritage structures.
The city is littered with them but the government has done precious little to
restore or save them. Except of the Gol Ghar where a museum has been
established a year or so ago depicting the life and times of the Nawabi era
after being restored, nothing has so far been done to preserve, maintain
improve the Royal Ensemble in the centre of the city. In fact, Shaukat Mahal in
the Ensemble, a magnificent specimen of amalgam of Indo-Islamic and European
Post-Renaissance and Gothic styles of architecture was allowed to degrade
because of bureaucratic processes. Despite the alarm sounded by the media and
some conservationists well in time, an imposing part of its frontage, instead
of being repaired and restored, was pulled down in a hurry by the local
municipal corporation who apart from being inept are also ignorant and callous
about preservation of heritage.
Regardless of what these politicians and bureaucrats say, if, by an odd
chance, Bhopal happens to get included in the list of cities to be smartened up,
only a little good will come the people’s way. Having so far not displayed any
political will to improve the city’s civic services, they are all aiming at the
big money that will accompany the inclusion, most of which will either be
wasted or find its way into various pockets. This has happened before with the
funds received under the Urban Renewal Mission as also those that were received
for creation of the BRTS corridor. Massive funding accompanying these missions
has left very little to show on the ground. One, therefore, apprehends that in
the event of approval for the city’s upgrade, while it might continue to remain
un-smart, the movers and shakers in the government and the municipality may become
really “smart”, with pocketful of goodies.
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