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Amidst daily reports of gloom and doom in our choking, precariously overburdened metropolises, the government has finally offered a chink...

Amidst daily reports of gloom and doom in our choking, precariously overburdened metropolises, the government has finally offered a chink of light. In a move aimed at making Delhi a 8220;liveable, global city8221;, 11 central government offices are being moved out to satellite townships like Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida.

Admittedly, this is a drop in the ocean, but at least it holds out hope that there will be stricter implementation of the decades-old policy that no new office would be located in the national capital without prior approval from the Cabinet Committee on Accommodation. Needless to say, this guideline has over the years been followed more in breach than in compliance.

Besides, Delhi has continued to play an illogical host to entities like the Coast Guard Headquarters or the All India Soil and Landuse Survey, two of the organisations which will now be relocated. So, are we witnessing a momentous trend in the making? Will the corridors of power gradually snake out into the India thatexists beyond the boundaries of Lutyen8217;s Delhi? Or will this remain yet another offering at our national altar of tokenism? To use an exasperating yet convenient cliche, only time will tell.

But perhaps a more pertinent question would be: is this all it takes to make Delhi which is but an example as we contemplate the state of our towns a liveable, global city? Relocating workplaces can yield two completely divergent scenarios. If it remains an isolated activity, it will only result in an increasing commuting population, with all its attendant infrastructural, ecological and psychological ills.

However, if it is made part of an integrated, holistic endeavour aimed at fostering new communities, no doubt the upshot would be urban decongestion. More importantly, it would provide the much-needed kickstart to smaller, stagnating townships. In addition to the obvious economic fallout, situating research institutes in far-flung areas would inevitably lead to the auxiliary promotion of new centres of learning,making for more balanced and equitable human resource development. Hence, it is not just a simple matter of transporting desks and files, there has to be a sustained effort at developing roads, power grids, schools, hospitals and recreation centres.

It goes without saying that urban decongestion is not a one-shot deal but a continuous process. Witness the rapid overcrowding of erstwhile pensioners8217; havens like Bangalore and Dehradun. Moreover, even as the government encourages urban sprawl, it needs to pay closer attention to urban renewal.

Inadequate housing, erratic water supply, power outages, crumbling roads, debilitating pollution, rising crime, mushrooming social tensions are today the defining characteristics of all Indian cities. While planners take up these challenges by charting out laborious nuts-and-bolts solutions to avert visions of apocalypse, sadly urban sociology is still relegated to the academic fringe.

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Yet, a resurgent metropolis is impossible without a certain esprit de corps, adefinite sense of belonging. And so, as the authorities hold out promises of relocating offices and re-allocating budgets, they would do well to give a thought to reviving our cities8217; sagging spirits.