Thirty thousand and counting

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Crowd at the Boat Club last Sunday

Last reports said that on the 9^th edition of “Rahagiri” in Bhopal last Sunday the kilometre and a half stretch of the Lake View Road was busting with “rahagirs”. As many as thirty thousand and more had collected there and there was hardly any space to move. People, obviously, couldn’t walk, cycle, skate or play any games for want of space. The road seems to have been overwhelmed by “rahagirs” and this after the authorities opened the roads along the RCVP Narhona Academy of Administration and the Campion School on the banks of Shahpura Lake were also thrown open to them where around 15000 collected to enjoy the vehicles-free roads.

Doesn’t all this prove something? Well, it does. It proves how people are fed up with vehicles clogging the roads leaving hardly any space for pedestrians and cyclists. We have too many motorised vehicles while the roads are few and generally inadequate. It takes time and needles money on avoidable detours to cover short distances. Only this afternoon my auto driver (I don’t

At Shapura infront of eponymous Lake

drive in the crowded Old City area) had to take a long detour as there was a big jam near the GAD Square flyover. It was a great nuisance. I couldn’t but pity the students sitting in those yellow buses taking in in copious quantities the noxious diesel fumes. If this is the fate of people in a developing economy I would rather not have this kind of development. I wouldn’t mind going back sixty years when we used to walk or cycle to the schools and colleges. Perhaps, all those who collect for those six hours on every Sunday are harking back to those good old carefree days when life was simpler and less complicated – the roads were free of these miserable automobiles.

One has to admire the spirit of these men and women, boys and girls and of course the children that they, on the weekly day of rest, pull themselves out of their beds travel over long distances to be at the Boat Club or the Shahpura Lake. Had I been younger, perhaps, I too would have joined them – after all I am not immune to the herd mentality. But that is now not possible. Nonetheless, sitting at home I ruminate over what is happening to the Lake with such a huge pressure of people, given the sheer incompetence apart from lethargy of its custodian which is none other than the Bhopal Municipal Corporation. Reports had earlier indicated that trash in large volumes had collected after every session of “rahagiri” and hawkers of food are still around to cause littering. Indians somehow can’t resist eating whatever is available when they are on an outing.

 One can only hope the new Municipal Commissioner, who has actively encouraged “rahagiti”, will take care of this aspect of the movement which seems to be on a roll. The Lake is in his charge and he must take care of it. In my opinion, it is now time cap the numbers of “rahgirs”.

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Photos: From the Internet

Banishing cars & recapturing the streets

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Bhopal has been overtaken by a “rahagiri” wave. Every Sunday the Lake View Road that leads to the Boat Club, The Museum of Man and beyond, to the Van Vihar National Park is closed down for traffic of any kind other than that of pedestrians between 6.00 AM and 12.00 Noon. Organised by the road transport company Bhopal City Link and the Municipal Corporation it has been a huge success. Last Sunday was only the fourth one and gradually crowds of young and old, men and women, boys and girls have swelled to thousands. It is literally a crowd of enthusiasts for freedom to use the road any which way for physical activities without a care for personal safety. The opportunity is utilised for organising games, jogging, skating cycling, zumba, walking, yoga and other exercises right on the middle of the Road at their respective designated spots. The surroundings also contribute to the exhilaration of the ‘rahagirs’. It has the iconic Upper Lake on one side and hills beyond and on the other side it has soothing green of the Shamla Hills.

Adopted from what was first organised in Bogota, Colombia as “Ciclovia” in 1976 when on all Sundays and holidays about 80 miles of road network was closed to vehicular traffic for free and unhindered use by citizens, “Rahagiri” in India is gradually catching on. First initiated in Gurgaon, popularly known as the “Millennium City”, in November 2013 by a team of NGOs and citizens’ groups it has continued to attract more and more people and so far an estimated 200,000 have participated in it. Introduced in New Delhi by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation and Delhi Police, “rahagiri” quickly caught on and is now continuing for more than 4 months. The entire Connaught Place area has been made free of vehicular traffic for the participants on Sundays. Delhi Police remains available for assistance, if required.

“Rahagiri” is a movement for, as they say, recapturing the

streets by the citizens who hardly are able to “see and feel the tar on the roads under their feet”, riding as they do, in their vehicles most of the time. An exponential rise in the number of vehicles depriving the use of the roads, especially, to cyclist and pedestrians seems to have unwittingly spawned this healthy movement. This ought to be treated as a wake-up call for town planners and municipal authorities who have built roads and planned cities or extensions thereof entirely for the vehicle-borne population, overlooking the needs, and indeed the rights, of cyclists and pedestrians. “Rahagiri” is also an expression for cleaner air free of particulates that infest the atmosphere choking the people on account of the polluting emissions of rising numbers of personal and commercial vehicles, more so the highly polluting the dieselised monstrous and predatory looking sports utility vehicles that have of late proliferated on the roads. As the authorities, municipal and government, have failed to restrict the population of vehicles on the roads depriving access to them of cyclists and pedestrians, the increasing numbers joining “Rahagiri” is an antipathetic reaction and it is their way of banishing thousands of hydro-carbon burning vehicles from the roads, if only for a few hours every week.

While one would like more areas in the city to be opened for “ Rahagiri” – a movement that is healthy, promoting fitness and a kind of community feeling – one has that nagging worry about the health of the Upper Lake and its waters that are supplied to the townsfolk for their daily consumption. Numerous experts participating in seminars and workshops have had occasion to emphasis that collection of large number of people at the the Boat Club and thereabouts was not desirable. Only this morning one happened to see in the newspapers the reports of garbage and filth that accumulates post the Sunday forenoon activities. Unless quickly removed and disposed of, these are most likely to find their way into the waters harming numerous citizens. Perhaps, the organisers will keep this vital matter in mind and arrange to keep the Lake View Road free of garbage and filth.

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Photos from the internet