Opinion Destination Urban Pradesh
Re-imagining and planning our cities
The real India,they say,is made up of villages and its spirit resides there. This Gandhian notion has been the bedrock of many policies formulated by the political masters of the country from time to time,for whom Chalo Gaon ki Ore was not only a fad popularised after Independence but also a political compulsion,given the sheer numbers of people residing there. But,with changing times,this trend has,like many others,undergone a sea change. With more and more people migrating from the villages to the towns and cities of new India in search of better livelihoods,it is now probably time to review and reverse the stress laid on villages to the cities,most of which have started crumbling under the weight of increased population and expansion,and have now started looking more like slums. Providing these urban areas better liveability parameters such as housing units,water and electricity connections,proper sewerage and better transportation is a challenge for all.
In Uttar Pradesh,the biggest state in the country,the pressure to transform cities and provide them with a workable infrastructure is getting stronger. Especially when seen in the context that out of the 5,161 cities in India,704 are in UP and out of these 704,54 cities with more than one lakh population have 60 per cent urban population and another 505 cities with 10,000 to one lakh population have 37 per cent urban population. Fifty-nine per cent of the states GDP comes from urban areas,and 70 per cent of all new jobs are created in urban centres.
It is perhaps against the backdrop of this understanding that urban centres are the future engines of growth that the UP government has come out with a grand,out-of-the-box policy to create a megapolis in the western part of the state,which is closer to the NCR both in affluence and mindset,making it a fit case to explore the success of Noida. Planners in UP have visualised a planned urban zone 10 times the size of Noida,from the existing villages along the under-construction Yamuna Expressway,right from Greater Noida,to Agra.
The decision to convert as many as 1,187 villages spread on an expanse of 2,36,682 hectares to an urban zone at one go,which would,over a period of time,have a number of planned,well developed cities instead of chaotic,haphazard growth along the flanks of a new highway,should not only be commended for its farsightedness but also for its sheer will power to face the political fallout that it is certain to elicit.
But while the decision to create a grand megapolis may be the latest path-breaking decision of the Mayawati government,it is definitely not the first. Only recently,the state government had embarked on its bold,first-in-the-country initiative to outsource the implementation of the annuity scheme of its new and progressive resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) policy to land owners and farmers to private financial institutions,mainly banks and insurance companies.
With an estimated 5,000 hectares of land to be acquired on an average annually for various development initiatives being launched by it,the state government decided to seek professional help in managing the transaction,which is likely to run into thousands of crores over a long period of time,rather than let the state machinery get bogged down with work its ill-equipped to do. Again,making sure that farmers who are giving up land for building roads,towns and industry get their regular compensation cheques from banks or insurance companies and do not have to make repeated trips to the government treasuries and wait for hours to get their dues,is a step cheered by both industry as well as land owners.
The experiment to bring uniformity in the building regulations of its planned cities of Noida,Greater Noida and the Yamuna Express Authorities and further liberalise the floor area ratio (FAR) so as to promote industrial,housing,commercial as well as institutional activities in the area surrounding the NCR is yet another futuristic initiative,especially when seen in the context that the availability of land is shrinking with every passing day and land prices seeing a steep rise. Raising the FAR would facilitate maximum usage of land by encouraging construction of multi-storeyed buildings.
With the present reigning hotspots in real estate like Gurgaon,Noida and Greater Noida in the NCR fast running out of land and cities like Bangalore,Pune and Hyderabad burdened with a pitiable and dwindling infrastructure,the IT and service sectors,especially,are clearly waiting for distinctive,planned townships to capitalise on. Interestingly,when many states are facing land acquisition related problems and have preferred to put it on the back burner for the time being,UP has been successful in silently showcasing its experiments and set a buzz among the investing fraternity.
The writer is principal correspondent,The Financial Express deepa.jainani@expressindia.com
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