I won't play planner here, not being one.
But if it is a good master-plan, all powers to
it. Hope it allows for a sound engineering
master-plan to be developed AND implemented.
I being a planner myself would like to boldly
say and agree with the contention of PK Sarma
(AT, June 13) >that the authority had at long
last attempted to prepare a master plan for
Guwahati for the first time in the >true sense
of the term.
*** I am not familiar with Guahati's planning
history, whether there were plans in the past or
not. But it is obvious NONE if any parts at all
have been followed or implemented.
As you correctly observed, the biggest problem
has been with flouting of all the plans and
systems that are supposedly in the books, in
implementation. Of course the biggest folly was
to bring the capital to Guahati, a political
decision implemented by unwise people.
All the concerns and objections seem to be
raised mainly due to the ignorance of the public
about the >contents of the master plan.
*** This is a POOR complaint. The public CANNOT
be expected to be PLANNERS , educated about what
should be expected, what is being presented, how
they should be implemented, what is missing and
what have you. It is the PLANNERS' DUTY to inform
and educate the public!
The Draft Master Plan for Guwahati 2025 is a
physical master plan and should not be compared
with the >engineering master plan.
*** Uh-huh! Now we are all educated :-).
For example, one should not expect to find out
whether his property will be affected by the
proposed road in >front of his house or whether
the swampy areas by the side of his house will
be drained out and the locality >will be free
from flood/water logging or not,
*** NO doubt! But WHAT about RETENTION
BASINS/FIELDS that have been illegally filled
up, encroached upon and otherwise degraded or
altogether destroyed. Should those be PLANNED
into the scheme of things for example? Or open
spaces--parks, fields, nature enclaves,
green-belts, flood-plains?
*** One of the questions I had of the person I
spoke to, who is an engineer by profession, was
considerations of drainage and sanitation
challenges that Guahati faces, if they were
considered. His answer was an emphatic NONE.
Perhaps it is not customary to consider those
issues in a Draft Master Plan, and is something
for Engineers to deal with. If so it would be
like something we did as students of architecture
in our planning exercises, mostly worthless stuff.
> one will have to consult different sectoral
plans prepared along with the physical master
plan and the >relevant cadastral maps.
*** Very informative indeed. Now we all know what
it is all about. Or do we :-)?
That is why anyone can say that he does not
agree to the figures. But before saying so, one
should have his >own estimate. Similarly, to
raise any objection to any plan or scheme, one
should have an alternative plan or proposal so
that the concerned authority can take it into
account for finalising the plan
*** REALLY? Somehow I labored my entire career,
under the mistaken notion that as a
professional, it is MY duty and responsibility to
be able to explain and defend the data that I use
to make my recommendations. Dang! Now I am told
that it is the lay-folks' responsibility to come
up with the right projections and appropriate
solutions :-).
In short, the criticism should always be
constructive and not for the sake of criticising
only.
*** I will agree that criticisms ought to be
CONSTRUCTIVE. But HOW do the IGNORANT public
provide CONSTRUCTIVE criticisms, if they don't
even know what in the heck they are dealing with?
That, my friend is the sixty-four rupee question here.
*** My opinion about the letter: IMMATURE!
At 2:34 PM -0700 6/19/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
It is so interesting - the following letter was
published in today's Assam Tribune when we were
discussing the new towns and plan etc. The
author is a planner from Guwahati. Does his
letter make sense to other planners?
LETTERS
Draft master plan for Guwahati
Sir, Bhaba Chetia in his letter (AT, June 14)
raised certain concerns about Guwahati City
Draft Master Plan which had been placed before
the public for comments, suggestions and
objections. A few organisations like Save
Guwahati Build Guwahati, Senior Citizens
Association etc., had also raised various
objections to the master plan. Someone even
suggested that the plan should be thrown into
the waste paper basket. However, I being a
planner myself would like to boldly say and
agree with the contention of PK Sarma (AT, June
13) that the authority had at long last
attempted to prepare a master plan for Guwahati
for the first time in the true sense of the
term. All the concerns and objections seem to be
raised mainly due to the ignorance of the public
about the contents of the master plan. The Draft
Master Plan for Guwahati 2025 is a physical
master plan and should not be compared with the
engineering master plan. The physical master
plan provides only the guidelines for future
development and not engineering details. or
whether his residence will have adequate
drinking water supply. These will be known only
when seperate engineering master plans on
various sectors like drainage, sewerage, water
supply or traffic and transportation etc., are
prepared. Similarly, to ascertain the extent of
green belt or zones etc., one will have to
consult different sectoral plans prepared along
with the physical master plan and the relevant
cadastral maps.
Another important point to be noted is that no
one conducts house to house survey (except the
Census Department) for estimating the population
figures required for preparation of any plan or
scheme. The future population figures are also
an estimate only and projected on the basis of
authentic data provided by the Government
agencies with the help of well known procedures.
That is why anyone can say that he does not
agree to the figures. But before saying so, one
should have his own estimate. Similarly, to
raise any objection to any plan or scheme, one
should have an alternative plan or proposal so
that the concerned authority can take it into
account for finalising the plan. In short, the
criticism should always be constructive and not
for the sake of criticising only. Yours etc.,
NITIN JAISWAL, Zoo Narengi Road, Guwahati.
Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
At 8:38 AM -0700 6/19/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
Did you ask your inside man (you said very
involved in it) whether GOI in Dilli forced GOA
to seek the services of a Dilli-based planner?
*** I did not. But I did not have to. It was
all too evident that those who serve Dilli's
interests, are funded by them and are sent to
Dispur thru the profoundly defective process of
selecting, bandied around by desis as
'democracy' , are the ones who must have done
that.
But the Planners being Dilliwallas is NOT the
problem., as should be apparent to all but the
thoroughly inept or the disingenuous. It is
their COMPETENCE, which ought to have been
evaluated by people who understand these issues.
*** I have been to Gurgaon, stayed there and in
this past April hovered over it on a holding
pattern approaching the airport. It is the
shining city on the Hill demonstrating
desi-prosperity, with its own well water and
electrical power plants. All the new rich have
flats or houses there, with nice open green
areas, well stocked supermarkets, roaring
multiplexes, towering glass encased but
un-insulated modern office complexes, kept cool
by what must be some of the most energy guzzling
air-conditioning plants in the world. They have
no worry about too much rain to flood their
streets, or farmers to uproot with no place to
go. They send their waste over to the Yamuna,
like everybody else, so the less fortunate can
partake of their sewage downstream. There are no
hills that have been cut to let the rains erode
tons of dirt downhill to clog their miserable,
garbage infested storm drainage system.
And most of all, the thousands upon thousand of
those others from Haryana who have to make a
living serving the many needs of the chosen in
their lofty and lovely new abodes, don't need to
be housed, don't need to be treated, don't need
to be fed by those who have made it or catered
to by the planners who planned for the
deserving. They who could not pull themselves up
by their boot-strings ( oops I mean by their
untrimmed toenails) , did not study hard enough
to succeed and partake of the bonanza, have
their very own slums surrounding the shiny city
on the Hill, like always; as pointed out by
Tavleen Singh to the rocket-engineer of a
President, to the loud chagrine of assamnetters,
annoyed by the unfairness of who must be an
India-hating columnist.
Need I say anything more?
>To Indians, a plan is a piece of paper that
you throw away after you read it. Unplanned
growth around >a planned area is the norm.
*** WHAT? Are you kidding me? Are you sure you
didn't mistakenly cite Indians where you ought
to have cited the Assamese :-) ?
But levity aside, GUESS why it is so? I bet you
will never find the answer :-).
> Go to Bangalore, you'll see it.
*** Never been there. Is it a good example or a bad one?
>The question will arise - how do you fix it?
*** Was afraid you will never ask , Medha Patkar
having provided the convenient outlet for the
outrage :-). NO doubt it is a very complex
problem. But ignoring the issues ( more likely
never having been aware of Guwahati's NEEDS )
and replicating mini-Gurgaons and Noidas around
Guwahati is NOT the answer. Guwahati's problems
are vastly different from Dilli's, in every
conceivable way .
>I believe staying with a plan (short term or
long term) takes a lot of discipline and
discipline can be >taught.
**** Questions would be :
A: There is no point in finding faults
with PLANS, thus sticking to one, ANY one, would
be better than none, right?
B: And 'discipline could be taught, as in
Gurgaon, or as in Noida or as in Bangalore?
C; Finally, HOW would demonizing Medha
for having the temerity to bring out the needs
and rights of the great unwashed into the arena, help :-) ?
Or did GOA select this ignorant clueless
planner because GOA is clueless in such matters?
I haven't been to Gurgaon (the name itself reeks
of Goo) but my observation is that the best laid
out plan goes awry in India because there is no
adherence to the plan after a few years of
execution. To Indians, a plan is a piece of
paper that you throw away after you read it.
Unplanned growth around a planned area is the
norm. Go to Bangalore, you'll see it.
The question will arise - how do you fix it? I
believe staying with a plan (short term or long
term) takes a lot of discipline and discipline
can be taught.
=================================================================
Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
The model of development Medha Patkar refers to
is that of the Dilli satellites like Gurgaon and
those other shiny new towns that are being built
to house India's new rich.
One needs to be aware of the context and the
details before one rushes to judgement. It
certainly would have helped to know WHAT the new
so-called Guwahati Master Plan includes, what it
is modelled after and why it was overwhelmingly
rejected.
The Dilli based Planners that Assam Govt ( or
whoever it is) hired to do this so called Master
Plan are quite unfamiliar with Guwahatis and
Assam's needs. They did NOT even attempt to
familiarize themselves with even the most basic
of the parameters that they were dealing with,
before they delivered a plan exactly like those
Dilli satellites for Assam as well.
How do *I* know?
Because I spoke at length to one of the people
from Guwahati who is very involved in it, during
my last trip to Assam. I was impressed by the
fact that he was knowledgeable and he cares. I
asked him how the Guwahatians are viewing it
including himself. He said people were reviewing
it, and he believed it was a TERRIBLE plan. I
agreed, on the basis of what he told me then,
even though I had not seen it myself.
At 7:16 AM -0700 6/19/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
The shallowness in the thought process of
social activist critic Medha Patkar is so
apparent in the paragraph, "Referring to the
proposed creation of three more towns to expand
the Guwahati metropolitan area, she said that
shopping malls and highways should not be the
yardstick to measure development. The
development approach should also take into
consideration the issues like how many people
are going to be displaced and how many people
are getting their livelihood affected by such
projects."
Anyone who visited Guwahati in recent times
knows how congested Guwahati has become.
Spreading the population to three more urban
areas would surely improve the quality of life.
Shopping malls and highways are not the primary
reasons for the new plan, Guwahatians know well.
As a part of the redistribution of people and
enterprise, if such facilities are needed, they
will definitely emerge as the secondary need.
Does Ms. Patkar know how to make an omelette without breaking an egg?
Dilip Deka
==================================================================
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Reading
Corporate houses will own rivers: Patkar
By Ajit Patowary
GUWAHATI, June 18 Narmada Bachao Andolan-fame
social activist Medha Patkar today warned that
if the proposed projects for linking the rivers
were to be materialized, ownership of the rivers
would go to the corporate houses. She also
alleged that the planners of the country had
been distorting peoples priorities for
development planning.
Patkar, also the convenor of the National
Alliance of Peoples Movements (NAPM), was
speaking to The Assam Tribune on the sidelines
of the two-day national dialogue on environment
and sustainable development organized by the
Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti in the city since
yesterday.
Explaining her assertions, she said that while
planning water resources projects drinking water
should be the first priority. Even in
agricultural sector, priority should be attached
to one crop protection. Wherever there is
drought, we must provide water for one crop
protection. But rules for such distributive
justice are not formulated.
Many states are changing their water policies to
attach higher priority to industrial use of
water than the use of this resource in
agriculture. This is why, hydro power is getting
the top most priority wherever water resources
are plenty, she said.
Similarly, though ground water recharge should
get the top most priority so far as ground water
is concerned, we are allowing the water to run
away. The bottling of water by big capital is
also given higher priority and the bottling
plants are given subsidies. Each of the bottling
plants is drawing between 5 lakh and 25 lakh
litres of water per day.
The rivers are also given to the corporate
houses. If the interlinking of rivers comes
true, corporate houses will be given the right
over our rivers as they will invest for the
projects that require an estimated amount of
around Rs 5,60,000 crore, she said.
On the present development activities in the
country, she said that much of them were based
on corruption and misuse of resources. However,
she clarified that resources should not
exclusively mean financial resources and these
should include also the natural resources.
Natural resources are a kind of capital. This
capital is misused in the sense that instead of
fulfilling the need of the people, it is used to
satiate the greed of the elite class, which
includes the politicians, the bureaucrats, the
contractors and the corporate houses. Though
there are alternative paths to use these
resources, priorities are distorted, she said.
Later, addressing a press conference at the
Guwahati Press Club, she said that Governments
development plans in NE region had been adding
to the sufferings of the regions people. Not
the Armed forces alone, the Governments plans
are also creating havoc for the people here, she
claimed, even as she demanded repeal of the
Armed Forces (Special Power) Act.
The people here are opposing the mega dams
proposed in the region, as, while conceiving
them they were not consulted and their informed
consent was not taken when some of them were
implemented. But the projects are pushed ahead,
she said, adding, the regions own power demand
would be around 7,000 MW at the most.
She also suggested that going by the
recommendations of the World Commission on Dams,
water from the catchments should be tapped
before its reaching the major rivers. This will
make mega dams and the river interlinking
projects redundant if at all the Government has
the resolve to save the people from floods, she
said.
She, however, observed that measures to control
flood control and erosion in the region had been
getting less priority from the state Governments
of the region and also from the Union Government.
The latest move to conduct a seismic survey in
the Brahmaputra riverbed for mineral oil
exploration betrays further the attitude of the
Union Government towards the people of the
region.
This survey will affect the entire system of the
Brahmaputra and also the ecology and people of
the valley, she said.
While dealing with the natural resources of the
NE region there should be a holistic approach
and this approach should be sensitive to both
ecology and the human beings, she asserted.
Referring to the proposed creation of three more
towns to expand the Guwahati metropolitan area,
she said that shopping malls and highways should
not be the yardstick to measure development. The
development approach should also take into
consideration the issues like how many people
are going to be displaced and how many people
are getting their livelihood affected by such
projects.
But the draft master plan for the city has not
taken into consideration all these issues, she
said, adding, displacement had increased by five
to ten times in the country during the past few
years.
Flood and erosion expert Prof D K Mishra also spoke on the occasion.
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