Bhopal Notes - 28 :: Bhopal saved

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Green Bhopal

Bhopal has been saved – yes, at least for the time being. The news that came in on the 17^th morning was such a relief. The pressure of the affected people of Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar, the Bhopal Citizens’ Forum and Mrs. Buch’s National Centre for Human Settlements and Environment yielded the desired results. The “Smart City” is now going to be elsewhere and not in Shivaji and Tulsi Nagars. There are reports even the PM’s advice tendered at Ujjain during his speech for conservation of water and saving and nursing trees may also have played a major part. Otherwise, the CM appeared earlier to be quite determined to push the original proposal through.

I say that it was a relief largely because I think Bhopal has been saved. Had the proposal of building the smart city in these two localities fructified the city would have lost thousands of trees and the aridity coupled with changing climate would have made the city unlivable. In a small fraction of the proposed area (117 acres) the Municipal Corporation itself came across more than 4000 trees, though its count is disputed. One can quite imagine how many trees would have been felled had the proposal gone through for building the smart city in 350 acres. The warming of the earth is already showing up. Had Bhopal ever had a run of 44⁰ C for six consecutive days? In fact, the mercury broke the record and hit 45.3 degrees Celsius on 18^th May. This should indicate to the skeptics the shape of things to come. The Met is predicting high temperatures right through the week. The Gammon India’s Central Business District in place of the South TT Nagar Colony was bad enough as it was inhabited  but verdant; the “Smart City” would have killed Bhopal.

Now that the struggle is behind us all of us need to congratulate ourselves. But one must thank the People’s Samachar, the Hindi daily, which launched a relentless campaign against the proposal. It invested a lot of time, effort and money bringing to people every day new facts and the opinions of those who would have been affected. Their stories would not have been disseminated but for the efforts of the daily. The most poignant feature was a photograph of Dr. Yogesh Baluapuri, head of Orthopedics in Red Cross Hospital, trying to put his arms round a massive tree with a great girth. He ought to be in his sixties and yet he came out to protest against a harebrained project. Somehow the English language press seemed to keep a hands-off attitude. They all are survivors on the largess distributed by the government and hence didn’t want to be on the wrong side of it. People’s sufferings do not seem to matter to them as long as their cash registers keep ringing.

To me it looks like that there is no reason for feeling complaisant after what people tend to take as victory. The CM has said that his government will plant a crore of trees. A very good thought indeed in view of the rising threats of global warming and droughts! The dry and parched earth seems to be expanding its reach virtually every year. We all know what trees are capable of doing for inviting precipitation, retention of moisture in the soil and provide water security for all living beings. Hence, while the CM is on his mission to green the state we should press him to green the hills around Bhopal that have been denuded of trees. Rising urbanization was bad enough for the city, worse was colonization of the hills. It is high time that further human encroachment on the hills is stopped and a determined effort is made to green the surrounding hills. The effects will be visible within a short time. One of our members in the Citizens’ Forum, JP Sharma, has made this suggestion and, hopefully, the Forum will carry the suggestion forward to those who matter in this regard. Perhaps, NCHSE also could be of help. When the CM has made this commitment we must take him on his word and insist on him to ensure that tree cover is restored to the Bhopal hills.

*Photo: from www 

Bhopal Notes - 26 :: The Patriarch speaks out

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The beautifula Bhopsl Lake and its colourful skies

It was a good augury yesterday to see the BJP patriarch of the state of Madhya Pradesh and its former chief minister, Kailash Joshi, speak out against the decision to build a smart city in the Shivajinagar and Tulsinagar areas. He has unequivocally stated against the wisdom of building the smart city where people are already living and where there is such a massive green cover. He has said none ever consulted him but he feels there are enough open spaces in and around the town where the smart city could be built and there is no need to uproot people from their homes and cut down so many trees. This is nothing but sheer logic and surprisingly it never occurred to any of the current top politicians and bureaucrats who have been vigorously pushing the project. Joshi confessed he did not know what precisely is a smart city.   

With the Patriarch coming out against the government’s proposal there seems to have been a domino effect as was discerned from the reports of today. The local MP, Alok Sanjar, toed the Kailash Joshi line and several MLAs, some of them influential and close to the chief minister, too have come out in the open against the proposal. Obviously, they were also opposed to the proposal. Since, however, the chief minister was pushing it strongly they maintained their discipline and did not speak out against it. In his last statement the chief minister was very firm about building the smart city in Shivajinagar and Tulsinagar and seemed to indicate that he would brook no opposition.

 Now, however, there seems to be disarray and probably a bit of confusion in the Party ranks. One has to wait and watch which way the thing turns. In face of the massive opposition from not only his Party mentor and Party colleagues but also from the affected residents he cannot be so unyielding. While the Citizen’s Forum had been suggesting the Baan Ganga area, MP Alok Sanjar has queried why it should not be built in the area of BHEL where houses have been vacated and are awaiting demolition. In any case BHEL has a large amount of surplus land given away by the government and lying unused. Someone else has suggested South TT Nagar where low-rise houses were demolished and the land, prime one at that, is also lying unused.

In the meantime the Government of India has responded to Ms. Buch’s missive and has asked the state government to reconsider the matter in detail. Ms. Buch, former chief secretary, is now apparently heading the National Centre for Human Settlement and Environment (NCHSE) which was formerly headed by her husband Mahesh Buch until his sudden death. The current resistance to the MP government’s proposal to build the smart city in an area which is likely to disturb and perhaps ruin the environment of the entire city is well within the domain of NCHSE. Ms. Buch spearheaded the peoples’ resistance and took off very early writing to the government of India in January 2016. Others, including the Bhopal Citizens’ Forum were tardy and the media campaign came much later. Peoples Samchar has covered the whole proposal very well and field interviews carried out by it were reflective of the affected residents’ sentiments against it.

Now that the opposition to the proposal has built up the Mayor is blaming the Congress for misleading the people. He is wrong as nobody has misled the people; if any misleading has been done it was by the BJP government and the municipal corporation headed by him. The other thing that one could decipher from the fine print is that there is a move to blame the bureaucracy for the faux pas. If the bureaucracy owns it up it would never be able to stand up again against the political executive. The bureaucracy should have initially come out against it as it meant unwarranted and uncalled for human misery for the affected people as well as devastation of the environment of the city in which they too reside. How could it be so insensitive to both of these eventualities? One knows who are behind this harebrained proposal and one would expect the bureaucracy to expose them.

Bhopal Notes - 24 :: "Smart City" and trees

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It was heartening to see this morning the informal organizations in Bhopal have uniting and collectively deciding to oppose building o the proposed “Smart City” in Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar area. There have been lots of write-ups in the vernacular press,m interviews of the affected residents and enumeration of the environmental consequences. Surprisingly, the English language press has displayed indifference to the matter. Perhaps they do not wish to be on the wrong side of the government. Nonetheless, the government seems to have had a rethink and is undertaking a survey and a count of trees.

For quite some time I have been insisting that building the proposed “Smart City” in the Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar area would adversely impact their micro-climate in particular and the climate of Bhopal in general. I have been saying that just like the Central Business District (CBD)that is coming up in place of the erstwhile South TT Nagar has raised the temperature of the area the proposed “Smart City” (PSC) would also raise the local ambient temperature. A local newspaper has now confirmed and has shown how the hot season temperatures vary in the town from area to area depending on existence or absence of trees.

People’s Samachar, a Hindi daily has gone and done an empirical study by recording the day temperatures in several areas including the CBD and PSC area. The study has found a difference of at least three degrees, i.e. while the CBD recorded 41⁰ C the temperature in Shivaji Nagar was 38⁰ C at more or less the same time. To further prove the point, the study found the Hamidia Road area as hot as the CBD. Here too, as the newspaper said, one wouldn’t find a tree even if one conducted an intense search.

The city and its surroundings have lost enormous number of trees in the last few years not only because of the ever-expanding urban sprawl but various projects that have been executed in the city and around it. The CBD, BRTS and the Narmada Water projects have caused felling of thousands of trees very close to or inside the town. Now one finds that the laying the third railway line from Bina to Bhopal has also resulted in elimination of thousands of trees, mostly close to the town. Likewise, despite a strict no no, construction work in the catchment area of the Upper Lake has also not ceased. The government is the biggest defaulter in this regard. It is because of their apathy (or was it ignorance?) the Sports Authority of India, Sair Sapata, the Jagaran University and other such institution came up in the catchments of the Lake sacrificing numerous trees and farmlands.

Then there is a building spree and more and more hills, valleys, farmlands and forests are being progressively gobbled up. What is more, every year the property fairs are held by builders under the benign support of the government. It would seem that a ceaseless building activity for construction of residential complexes is being undertaken for which permission is apparently given with great felicity. Of course, some time the permission is not even sought and the buildings come up which is why we get a lsge number of unauthorized colonies. The net result is that the city has expanded so much that from some areas it takes as much as an hour or more to reach the local airport. Is it this kind of development (vikas) the government is looking for? If such activities do not stop in quick time Bhopal, which has already lost its reputation of being equable in climate and sizzles in the hot season as, say, Gwalior will soon lose its underground water reserves. Most of the new colonies depend only on sub-soil water. Without any insistence on water-harvesting depletion of the reserves will be sooner than later. With trees gone at the current rate Bhopal would soon turn into a Marathwada town – water-scarce with resultant acute human misery.

One tends to wonder as to why the Bhopal authorities in the municipality and the government do not appreciate the role of trees and the ecological services they render. THE ECOLOGICAL SERVICES THEY PROVIDE FOR FREE ARE 1) REDUCED AIR POLLUTION, 2) STORM WATER CONTROL PREVENTING SURFACE RUN-OFF, 3) CARBON STORAGE, 4) IMPROVED WATER QUALITY 5) REDUCED ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND 6) POSITIVE EFFECT ON HUMAN PSYCHE. BESIDES, ACCORDING TO THE US DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION, ONE HUNDRED TREES REMOVE 53 TONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE AND 430 POUNDS OF OTHER AIR POLLUTANTS PER YEAR, ONE HUNDRED MATURE TREES CATCH ABOUT 139,000 GALLONS OF RAINWATER PER YEAR AND STRATEGICALLY PLACED TREES SAVE UP TO 56% ON ANNUAL AIR-CONDITIONING COSTS. BESIDES, ONE HEALTHY PUBLIC TREE IN ITS 20TH YEAR AFTER PLANTING PROVIDES $96 IN BENEFITS AND ONLY COSTS $36, FOR AN ANNUAL NET BENEFIT OF $60. ONE HUNDRED HEALTHY YARD TREES OVER 40 YEARS PROVIDE $364,000 IN BENEFITS AND ONLY COST $92,000, FOR A 40-YEAR NET BENEFIT OF $272,000. ONE HUNDRED HEALTHY PUBLIC TREES OVER 40 YEARS PROVIDE $380,000 IN BENEFITS AND ONLY COST $148,000, FOR A 40-YEAR NET BENEFIT OF $232,000. 

The contention of the government that by creating the “Smart City” it is going unlock the value of the government land is, therefore, fallacious. The land with tree cover has been contributing to a great extent to the people and will continue to do so if left undisturbed by way of the ecosystem services. To my mind, it would be suicidal to chop the trees which are our “Natural Capital”.

Today, the buzz-word is “vikas” and it has become a fetish. Whether people like it or not, whether it would be beneficial for them or not it would be rammed down their throats. Every project, good or bad, brings a lot of benefits for those in authority who promote them. I am in complete agreement with RK Raghavan, the former Director CBI, when he recently said that nothing – whether a civil project or defence procurement project – in the government moves unless politicians and bureaucrats are bribed. Such a thing seems to have happened with the Gammon Project when rumours were rife that a huge sum of money was paid by the firm to politicians.

One suspects that the same is the case with the “Smart City” project. The stakes, apparently, are huge for those who are pushing it.

*Photo: from internet

Bhopal Notes - 23 :: "Smart City" Bhopal

IT IS TIME TO PLANT TREES, NOT TO CUT THEM DOWN

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Link Road No.1, Bhopal

The other day, while moving towards the Tin Shed area I happened to notice a dense green cover adjoining the property being developed by Gammon India Ltd. This area has a pretty large number of government houses built soon after Bhopal was made the capital of the new state of Madhya Pradesh. As happens in our villages, the farming communities plant trees – mostly big and shady ones – next to their homestead to get some shade to block the scorching sun. Likewise as Bhopal is known for its strong sun in summer as also during the second summer around the month of October, every household, apparently, had/has planted such trees. In the surrounding bright, hot and blinding sun it appeared an oasis of coolth. Whatever trees that were there before the colony came up must have been axed to build the low-rise sprawling complex of government quarters. The spread of green too, therefore, is extensive. Most of the trees that have a large canopy should be around half a century old. And take it from me, all this greenery was not because of the initiatives of the government; it was largely a private and individual effort which made the colony green. Every succeeding generation of occupants enjoyed the fruits of what their predecessors had planted and added to the greenery if the need for that was felt.

Passing by I recalled that a similar green oasis used to be where the Gammons are building the Central Business District. That area too had a sprawling low-rise colony that was known as South TT Nagar. It also had massive trees which also should have been of the same age as the ones I saw the other day. The colony was wiped out and the trees were not only cut down, they were also killed by being administered some kind of chemicals. Some of us from the Bhopal Citizens Forum along with others who were equally concerned had even protested at the trees being mercilessly felled. But the stakes for the politicians were reportedly very high and none paid any attention to what the affected people had to say. Their protests were too weak. Gammon India had assured that it would plant as many trees as it had felled. Not one seems to have been planted so far. Curiously, none is keen to pull up the private corporate house for its failure. It seems to be above the law. The entire area of the Apex Bank Square looks stark and devoid of any greenery. No wonder, the temperature measuring digital contraption located close to Apex Bank Square registers the ambient temperature always ai least 1⁰ Celsius higher than what one finds elsewhere on the Link Rood No 1.

A similar fate is going to overwhelm one of the greenest areas of the city when Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar are converted into a “Smart City”. The government servants who are located there have already been told to vacate their respective houses to enable their demolition.  People are restive and are anxious as uprooting themselves from their hearths and homes where they have spent decades is always heart-wrenching. Besides suitable houses on rent are not only scarce, they are also expensive with rents touching the skies. The government has held out promises that they would be provided government houses or would be located in rented accommodation with rents being paid by the newly created “Smart City” executive body. But there is always a huge gap between what government promises and what it does. The situation seems to be still in doldrums and is slowly evolving. The government seems to be retreating from the deadline of 30^th June for vacation of houses. But the affected people continue to suffer from the pangs of uncertainties.

But that is not what I wanted to put across really. What I wanted to emphasise was the loss of greenery in that greenest of green areas of Bhopal. Although the authorities have been claiming that they will undertake minimal tree-felling, but I for one cannot take them on their word. The governmental or public agencies are merciless in tree-felling and very, very tardy in tree-planting. There is no one in the current administration who could emulate Late Mr. SN Mehta Chairman of MP electricity Board in the 1960s who built a township in Korba felling minimum number of trees keeping the majestic teak trees standing even the compounds of bungalows.

THE PROSPECTS, THEREFORE, SEEM FRIGHTFUL AS THE CITY IS LIKELY TO WITNESS A RISE IN TEMPERATURE BY A DEGREE OR TWO. ALREADY, REPORTS HAVE APPEARED THAT WHILE 2015 WAS THE WARMEST YEAR IN RECORDED HUMAN HISTORY, 2016 HAS BROKEN ALL RECORDS WITHIN THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS. THE MERCURY IS RISING ALL OVER THE WORLD AT AN UNPRECEDENTED RATE. IN THIS KIND OF GLOBAL WARMING DROUGHTS ARE GOING TO BE THE ORDER OF THE DAY. 

We are in the midst of one of the worst droughts ever in which, according to the latest reports, as many as 50% of the country’s people are seriously affected. Marathwada is, of course, in the vortex of it all. When climate change is giving unmistakable signals and droughts are staring us in our face it would be highly insensitive of the government to destroy the greenery of Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar. The need of the hour would seem to be to take care not to fell even one tree but to plant more and more trees wherever possible and try and calm the runaway climate that seems to have broken all bounds. Smart cities can happen elsewhere where no sacrifice would need to be made in the shape of greenery. The city already has witnessed sacrifice of large number of trees for the Narmada Water and BRTS projects without any perceptible benefits to the people. Bhopal Citizens’ Forum has suggested the Ban Ganga area where hardly any tree would need to be felled and a smart city erected there would also help in rehabilitation of jhuggi dwellers. If the value lying locked up in government quarters need to be unlocked, Ban Ganga area would eminently fit the bill as a huge area is also being unproductively used

The government should not stand on prestige and stand firm by their decision howsoever flawed and manipulated it might be. It must think of the people and the impact of their actions on them. The proposed smart city is nothing but an invitation to drought and consequential depletion of the city’s underground water reserves. One expects the government to take steps to meet the serious threat posed by climate change. It is not an imagined threat any longer; it is for real. Today it has severely hit Marathwada tomorrow it could hit us in the heart of India. Instead of destroying the greenery and creating a heat-radiating glass and concrete jungle the government needs to think of facing the calamity looming in front. If not for the sake of the Planet Earth, at least for the sake of people of Bhopal the government needs to reconsider their decision to bring up a smart city in the way it has decided to do.

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*Photo from internet

Bhopal Notes - 21A :: Old Bhopal to miss out on "Smart City" goodies

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Taj ul Masajid in Old Bhopal

It has been some time since Bhopal made it to the list of twenty cities that are going to be converted in the first phase into “Smart City”. That the city barely made it to the list being ranked twentieth says much about its present condition. I read somewhere that the entry about availability of land in the city clinched the decision in its favour.

That it was not vacant land that was available probably was not communicated. What was meant was actually redevelopment of two areas of the newer part of the city – Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar. Both have around 50-year old government low rise structures which, according to the government, are occupying precious government land and it was felt necessary to unlock its value by recapitalizing it. Both the areas are situated close to two business hubs – the New Market and Maharana Pratap Nagar (Zones 1 and 2) as also the up-and-coming Central Business District being built by the infrastructure giant Gammon India Ltd. Gammon India has already half built the business and high rise residential complexes. The idea seems to be to have a longish belt of residential and commercial high-rise high end complexes right up to the junction with Maharana Pratap Nagar.

The proposal was well taken. Probably, the builders were eying the area for long and, reportedly, something was in the works on the pretext of re-densification. The Smart City dispensation was a God-sent and the state government latched on to it, driven most of them, as they are, by the builders’ lobby. Whatever might be the truth, there have been only feeble protests by the adversely affected residents of the colonies of the two Nagars. Much stronger protests by the residents of what was then known as South TT Nagar heralded the Gammon Project. But this time it was much muted. The inhabitants of these two colonies will be uprooted from their moorings where most of them have spent close to thirty-odd years, and, what is more, there is no plan for their resettlement in sight. That is an acute human problem the resolution of which is not yet in sight. Resettlement and rehabilitation of displaced people are not the strong points of this government.

Another point that seems to have failed to come up of consideration is the consequence on traffic that would be generated by the belt of high-rise commercial, office and residential complexes. The Link Road No. 1 would be practically jammed, at least one of its carriageways. With great the Bhopal Citizen Forum prevailed upon the planners to provide openings from Gammon India's CBD on the road to tin Shade. Commuting through the Link Road will be problematic once the Smart City comes up.

More importantly, what is worrying is that as many as 30000 trees are going to be felled. I had mentioned earlier that 3000 trees were felled for the BRTS project and Gammon India felled another 3000. Compensatory re-plantation in these areas has not taken place. Felling 30000 more is going to have a telling impact on the climate of the city. Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar are perhaps the greenest areas of the city with dense growth of trees, many parks and ponds. It is an ecologically rich area and sacrificing all that for something that may or may not come up even in the next thirty years seems to be travesty of reason. It is likely to play merry hell with the environment which already has taken a hit from climate change induced by global warming.. When the weather is playing highly fickle and nobody knows what kind of turn it takes in the next few days sacrificing trees in thousands in a city would seem to be crime against its citizens. Reports have already appeared of Bhopal registering high temperatures throughout 2015. One, therefore, feels a little sad that there have been no protests against this decision of the government by any of the civil society groups or environmentalists barring, perhaps, the Bhopal Citizens’ Forum.

The government and builders, taken together, are very quick in felling trees but excruciatingly tardy in compensating for the lost the greenery. I recall, more than fifty years ago Arera Hills and the areas under reference were devoid of any greenery. I was able to get an unhindered view from my brother’s bungalow in 74 Quarters of the 1250 and 1467 quarters coming up further in the south. Perhaps, trees had been clear-felled for the hectic construction that was undertaken after shifting of the capital to Bhopal. It took painstaking effort by Late Shri Mahesh Buch to green these areas and that took decades. One, therefore, is apprehensive and also apprehensive and also afraid of the lot that is in store for the people of Bhopal in general and those living and working in and around Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar in particular. What they are in for is a jungle of concrete and glass radiating heat in place of a nice soothing environment offered by greenery. The plans prepared show a lot of greenery but those are only plans on paper. How these are translated into reality would be another matter. In any case, there can be no replacement for the greenery that is going to be lost any time soon– not by this government or by this municipality.

All that is not to say that one opposes conversion of Bhopal into a Smart City. Certainly not. There are other ways by which it could be converted into one. Most of the selected cities among the twenty have opted for retro-fitting which would be meaning that there would be no demolitions and no large scale felling of trees. That is a more rational way of smartening up a city with equal attention being paid to all its parts. What is being attempted in Bhopal is concentration of high end facilities in a limited area to the exclusion of all others. Though reports have appeared of the newly-created Special Purpose Vehicle for organizing and overseeing the development of the Smart City talking about pan-city development one cannot but have misgivings about it. Our culture is inherently undemocratic in these respects. We know how VIP areas of 74 Bungalows, Link Road No.1, Chaar Iml Arera Colony etc. are lavished with far, far greater attention by the civic and utilities establishments than those where the common, unimportant, uninfluential folk live and work. Had the mode of retrofitting of the entire city been opted some sort of equity would have been achieved. As things stand, inequity is built into the method that is being adopted; only a part Bhopal will be smartened up to the exclusion of all others. The dye seems to have been cast and the politicians seem to have done in the people.

Apparently, city planners picked on the easier way out. The option of a Greenfield project was never explored. Redevelopment of an already developed area was an easier option. Perhaps plans were either already in the works or were available. Consensual selection of the areas for redevelopment bandied about seems to be all false and the voting was reported to be fraudulent and the decision was imposed on the citizens.

The upshot, therefore, is that more resources are going to be lavished on an already well-developed area and the older parts of the town would be deprived of the same. These deserve it more as it is in the older parts of the city where utter degradation of the civic infrastructure has taken place. The neglect and indifference of civic authorities is palpable. One only has to peep into in any of the colonies in older parts of Bhopal to see their deplorable condition. The residents in these parts are however going to be deprived of the improved quality of life that has been promised for smart cities. The only “smart solution” that the Smart City Mission talks off for such areas would seem to be to provide first the infrastructure and then talk of retrofitting.

*Photo from internet

Bhopal Notes - 21 :: Unsmart moves for smart city

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Artist's impression of smart Bhubaneshwar

Bhopal figured last in the list of 20 cities picked up by the Central Government for upgrade as a smart city. The MP government had recommended the areas of Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar of Bhopal for building a smart city.  A very dependable newspaper reported that availability of land tipped the scale in its favour or otherwise it might not have figured in the list. Apparently, what was conveyed to the Centre was that these two localities have about 500 acres of land as required under the scheme for building the local smart city – a fact that has not been borne out by later developments.

The residents of these two areas protested soon after the decision of the Central Government was announced. It seems, the state government, on the recommendation of the Municipal Corporation, had conveyed to the Centre thinking that the low rise houses would be demolished and the vacated land would be made use of for building the smart city. It, unfortunately, saw only the land and not the houses in which people have been living for more than thirty years. Surprisingly, it never occurred to them that those who were already resident in their houses would need to be moved from their hearths and homes and provided alternative comparable  land/accommodation before the smart city could come up.

The protests are, naturally, gathering strength and some organizations have added their voices. The municipality’s counter is that largest number of people voted for Shivaji and Tulsi Nagar areas and hence that is what was recommended. No communication, apparently, was received by it against the proposal and now, since, the project has been approved it would be difficult to revise the proposal. If the municipality and the government take such a stiff stand it would be a human tragedy of pretty large scale. People of the areas may have voted in large numbers imagining benefits that would accrue to them from the smart city but they probably never imagined that it is they who would actually be pushed out of their houses to make way for it. They might have been asked to vote but were they ever told that in the event of selection of their localities they would have to vacate their houses and lands? Probably not. Had they been aware of this eventuality surely they would not have voted like they did.

Shattering their dreams, a population of a few thousand families – reported to be thirty-odd thousand – will have to be moved – but where? Nobody knows. So far nothing has been reported in the news papers about their rehabilitation and no piece of land seems to have been identified. Can a government send such a half-baked proposal to the Centre? I doubt it, but one can never tell. The proposal of building smart cities was rushed through because of the given deadline and numerous vital matters may not have been considered. The municipal corporation was most keen to get Bhopal selected by the Centre forgetting that its performance over the years has left an enormous lot to be desired and it just did not have the capability to run a smart city.

One can see a turmoil approaching as the resentment is building up. Both sides are keeping quiet but I am sure below the surface things surely are moving. There is, however, another very vital aspect which also could derail the project and that is regarding the city’s greenery. Reports have appeared of an estimated 30000 trees will have to be felled in the two localities to accommodate the smart city. These areas are perhaps one of the greenest ones in Bhopal and present a beautiful and soothing ambiance. To root out this greenery and uproot the residents of the area for what seems to be a mirage will be a double whammy for the people and their city.

Bhopal has always got the wrong end of the stick in so far protection of its tree cover is concerned. The Gammon’ CBD Project required felling more than a thousand trees. The undertaking given by Gammon India of planting as many trees in place of those which were eliminated from the site has not been honoured. Neither the municipality nor the government seems to have insisted on Gammon India to do the compensatory planting as promised.

Likewise, for the BRTS project again some 3000 to 5000 trees were felled. Some of them were massive, very old trees that provided roadside greenery and shady patches to all those who would walk on these roads as also rookeries for birds and other arboreal creatures. Now if one looks at the route one finds only harsh and stark metal of the road with nothing green in sight. No wonder the mercury around the New Market registers a temperature that is a degree or two more than in the rest of the city or even higher. Once the Gammon India project gets up-and-running as a full-fledged business district things are likely to become much worse.

Felling of 30,000 or more trees for the “smart city’ project will be a massive blow to the city’s equable micro-climate – or whatever is left of it. And this will be done, curiously, in these days of escalating global warming, the resultant climate change because of which is already upon us. But nothing better could be expected from the unconcerned officialdom of this state which neither is bothered about the environment nor about the people living in the city. If many large complexes are under construction on the out skirts of the town why the smart city couldn’t be accommodated likewise as a greenfield project? That would have caused minimum of adverse effect on the people of the city or its environment.

In fact, this is the basic mistake that the government and the municipality have made that of proposing what is essentially a “greenfield” project for location in an area which is already in use. They planned for conversion of Shivajinagar and Tulsinagar into a proverbial shiny new smart city with its modern infrastructure extensively using IT evacuating those who have developed deep roots in the area. They forgot that all this could be achieved where there are no constrains on availability of land or like the ones that have cropped up now.

A day or two earlier a report appeared about the planning that is being undertaken for smartening up the entire city. One does not know whether it was a deliberate leak to work as a sop for those who feel deprived. Actually speaking, it is exactly what is necessary. Instead of creating a new concrete jungle the smartening of the entire city should be attempted by retrofitting. The condition of the city is such that it needs to be lifted up from its boot straps. Without being divisive, this would prevent structural division of the city in two hierarchies - “Smart” and “Un-smart”, “modern” and “primitive” – and would satisfy the entire population of the city. What seems to be necessary is to go the way of Amsterdam where the city is being smartened up with a bottom-up approach. As many as 30-odd projects have commenced to ensure the city’s smart functioning. These include a “climate street” which aims to reduce the energy use of an entire shopping street with a new superfast fibreoptic network , installing smart metres to the electricity grid so that ships do not have to burn diesel in generators when berthed in the city’s port and suchlike.

Such innovative projects could be planned to make the entire city smart by retrofitting with use of special purpose vehicles. All areas of civic functions could be covered with the necessary inputs from experts for execution through special purpose vehicles for each project. Issues like introducing the concepts of energy efficiency, greening of public buildings, equitable water-supply to all, disposal of solid wastes and their conversion into energy and recycling of waste water, etc all could be handled and executed by special purpose vehicles. With judicious deadlines given to SPVs the city could get really smart in not too distant future.

*Photo from internet