Obnoxious impact
| Date :30-May-2019 |
Invaded: The upcoming Ujjwal Nagar station of Metro Rail on Wardha Road is eating up all available spacious front premises of a building causing great inconvenience to occupants. (Pic: Anil Futane)
By Vijay Phanshikar:
Some way into the campaign to bring to people’s notice the problems they will have to face on a permanent basis, it is time for a re-look at why at all a campaign about something that cannot be wished away or erased or torn down. But as we proceeded to bring to people’s notice what kind of design disasters they are being handed down, anguished people responded by highlighting the problems they were being made to face on account of the Metro routes and stations invading their private space -- physical as well as spiritual.
When the station-structures just jostle with their homes and offices, when the Metro pillars stand smack in the middle of the road obstructing people’s view as well as traffic, when sunlight, air, and sense of security and privacy are under threat as Metro structures come up just at a hand-shaking distance -- just outside their front windows and balconies, there are reasons for the people to feel disturbed, nay seriously anguished. Through this campaign, as People’s Paper, we are only highlighting the people’s problems that they will have to live with most reluctantly all their life.
Is this what we had bargained for when the dream of Nagpur becoming a ‘Smart City’ on the strength of Metro transport was thrust down our throats by the authorities? It is this question which we are duty-bound to ask again and again. The people ask us this question, and we put it in public domain for a collective thinking. This is the least -- or most -- we can do for the larger public good. There is no denying that development of Metro’s rapid mass transport system may become Nagpur’s need in a few years from now.
There is also no denying that such a system is available in many, many major cities around the world. In places like Mumbai where an efficient local railway system already existed, the authorities felt the need to introduce Metro Rail as well. In tune with this highlighting of the need part of Metro Rail, its promoters would certainly say that when something grand, something good is coming up, some people may have to suffer from some problems. And that is why the Metro Rail’s slogan -- Today’s Pain, Tomorrow’s Gain. But is this really so? Can the loss of sunlight, free and fair air, free and fair view and privacy of people in a building getting blocked permanently beyond redemption by Metro Rail’s structures be considered a gain, and by which standard? -- are the questions we wish to ask on behalf of the people. No matter the Public Relation blabber the authorities will indulge in, we are conscious that there are no answers to the questions we are raising.
We realise that in time to come, most people residing in those buildings will get out of the places and seek shelters or spaces -- working or living -- elsewhere at a huge cost that would include getting uprooted from their familiar social eco-system. We do not wish to accept this sort of “inevitability” as an outcome of pro-people development. In our opinion, this is hardly pro-people, even if it is being branded -- and brandished -- as one. Cities are living, organic entities. They breathe, they pulsate, they grow -- or even shrink, as has happened in some cases. Parts of them die as well. Yet, the effort of leaders of most cities is to retain their respective personalities.
In Nagpur, we do not see any such effort -- conscious or unconscious -- to retain the charm Nagpur used to have until a few years ago. We have a genuine issue with this approach to development. We are not opposed to Metro Rail at all, but we cannot support the design disaster that the project has presented to our city of Nagpur. This stand of ours is being understood by the people. They realise that all we are asking for is a legitimate regard of the people’s psychological needs and sense of satisfaction. We are conscious that in time, Nagpurians will realise that they have been saddled with a developmental project with atrocious impact on their lives on a permanent basis. Our effort, therefore, is to let the authorities know what kind of damage their decisions may be causing to the city forever. Metro Rail is still welcome, but not with such obnoxious impact.