AS YOU move around the city of Nagpur in continual throes of so-called development, your eyes are often invaded by stunningly tall buildings coming up in different parts of the city -- of course, on relatively small plots of land. These very tall buildings are possible because the builders get an official (no matter how much constitutionally correct) facility of Transferable Developmental Rights (TDRs) by way of which the builder can attach the Floor Space Index of a plot of land elsewhere to complete the FSI norm of the particular place. In fact, no matter its legality, the TDR facility contravenes the spirit of the constitution -- though nobody has challenged it at least so far (obviously for the sake of convenience of ‘friends’ in business, in administration and in politics).

 

When such contraventions start hurting his eyes, the loosefooter recalls the American movie ‘Erin Brockovich’ with Julia Roberts as lead actress, released in the year 2000. It is a real-life story of a single mother Erin Brockovich who gets a job as a paralegal assistant in a law firm. Even though she has no help whatsoever from anybody, Erin launches a systematic legal and social fight against a powerful Californian energy corporation since the company’s projects were polluting the city’s water-supply network. Directed by the famous Steven Soderbergh and written by Susannah Grant, the film won Academy Award for Best Actress In a Leading Role for Julia Roberts, and created a great social impact the world over. Possibly, the city of Nagpur needs some such person who would undertake such a fight to finish. For, whatever the city newspapers often do is never paid heed to by the civic or political leadership of the city. So thick-skinned are the people in these layers of power pyramid that they are just not bothered about what the media says about issues of civic importance. The loosefooter suspects that all these ladies and gentlemen have sat down for a meeting at some moment to decide never to pay attention to media reports. Such shamelessness ! It is in the light of this that one recalls the real-life story of real Erin Brockovich (nee Pattee) who has by now become a famed social activist. The city of Nagpur misses such a social leader very badly.

 

‘The Hitavada’, for its part, has never ceased to play its traditional role as a watch-dog newspaper in the democratic polity. By a standard definition, the newspapers are known as the Fourth Estate in the democratic structure -- Parliament, Executive, Judiciary, -- and the media. However, it must be said sadly that there is a diminishing respect for the fourth estate by the first three estates of the structure. Nevertheless, ‘The Hitavada’ has all the time tried its best to bring to fore the highly questionable combination of civic ill and political will -- that is found to dogging the city. Such is the case in most other cities, too, but what is happening elsewhere is not the subject matter of this particular column.

 

But loosefooter -- along with countless right-thinking people of Nagpur -- thinks strongly that the city needs to correct its flawed thinking about the illogically tall buildings that put terrible pressure on civic systems, badly and wrong-designed flyovers and roads and intersections, badly-constructed public infrastructure, rapidly drying (and therefore dying) lakes and water bodies ... ! This list can be endless, so to say. To get the city’s overall leadership to correct its flawed thinking, Nagpur does need one Erin Brockovich ! -- under whose leadership different lobbies of environmentalists etc can work in tandem and succeed in correcting the city’s ills. Post-script: Dear Readers, please respond to this thought -- so as to create a greater awareness in the larger society. n