Click to play videoNew Delhi Is India heading towards an urban chaos? This is the question everybody is asking after the traders' general strike in Delhi last week and the subsequent violent protests in many parts of the capital to protest against MCD’s sealing drive.
"Yes, our cities are heading for a disaster,” says renowned architect Hafiz Contractor. “Our government should get up from its sleep and take stock of the urban chaos. What has happened in the city (delhi) is only the tip of an iceberg,” he warns.
Dr Chadda, member of a RWA, says, “We thought that the chaos in which we find ourselves today is the outcome of the doings of the traders, MCD and the politicians. But more than that, it is the fault of the government, which was collecting commercial taxes from the people. The DDA, which did not create commercial space, is also at fault.”
Praveen Khandelwal, president of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), argues that the traders should not be the only ones held liable for the urban chaos. “There are innumerable illegal constructions in Lutyen's Delhi, Supreme Court, Delhi High Court and the Patiala House that so easily go unnoticed,” he claims.
Former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma blames the problem on the multiplicity of authority. “There is the MCD, the DDA and the Government of India. When I was the CM, I was crying for it,” he added.
Sanjay Kaul, President of People's Action, is however not ready to buy that argument: "You cannot shrug the responsibility off your shoulders. You are the CM, you solve the problem."
Prof Mitra, who heads the Urban Design Institute in New Delhi, says it’s a bad idea to go about it in a top-down approach. “We have to clearly define what is non-conformity and the people of the residential areas should decide on that,” he argues.
Congress leader and MLA, Kiran Walia, also blames it on the lack of unified control and machinery. “This is a big issue in Delhi. The DDA has lofty designs in its Master Plan, but when it comes to implementation, it is not achieved. It is always lagging behind,” Walia alleged.
Verma also argues that the ‘Draft of the Master Plan 2021’, which was published and made public in April 2005, should have taken a maximum of five months for finalisation. “Unfortunately, nothing has been done so far and that is the reason for the sealing. It is the duty of the government to tell the people where they stay,” the former chief minister said.
Mr Ramesh Ramanathan, founder of Bangalore-based NGO Janaagraha and a consultant and adviser to the Urban Development Ministry, says the urban development ministry is taking some tentative steps towards decentralisation, empowering cities and so on.
“But they are doing things, which are still inconsistent. My first question is why is the Government of India meddling in the politics of Delhi? It’s a local government issue. They need to get out of the way,” he argues.
Former CM Verma also agrees that the power should be given to the people and the Resident Welfare Associations should be consulted.
"In Delhi, the problem is that local bodies do not have any power,” said an architect. “The powers lie with the DDA, which is not a local body. There are 7 lakh shops and commercial establishments in Delhi. The DDA has allotted only 50,000 of them. The government is charging taxes from the people and they do not say -- since you are unauthorised, we will not charge any tax,” he pointed out.
MLA Kiran Walia demanded that “Delhi needs is a city- state government.” Everywhere the local governments are under the state government. Delhi is a unique example where the municipal bodies like the DDA are under the Centre by an Act of the Parliament, she said.
Taking part in the forum, another architect said a logical solution for the problem would be for the DDA to release all the land it has got in its possession. “There will be six to eight times of commercial space, which has already been allotted according to the Master Plan,” he said.
Who are the anti-social elements responsible for violence in the Capital?
Many believe that the traders’ agitation was not all about traders. It was taken over by goons, particularly people who wanted to embarrass the Sheila Dikshit Government.
Former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma doesn’t think so. “That is not the right thing to say. In any such agitation, such elements are always there," he pointed out.
When questioned on the reports of use of ‘political elements’ -- by the BJP and even a section of the Congress who wanted to pull down Sheila Dikshit -- Verma said: “This is totally absurd.”
"We did not use anybody and did not create any violence. The people were all a part of the society. Those affected include not only the traders, but everybody -- be it in unauthorised colonies, residential areas, shopkeepers and others,” he said.
MLA Walia called for an enquiry to find out whether such stories can be ruled out. "The fact that the bullets were first fired at the police and it was only then that the police retorted proves that there were bad elements in the crowd," she said.
"It was an agitation by the traders, for the traders and of the traders. But I agree with Sahib Singhji and Waliaji that in a movement of such a mammoth scale, some anti-social elements may try to take advantage of the situation. Let the report of the enquiry committee decide the truth,” Khandelwal said.
Sanjay Kaul, President of People's Action, found it strange that all political parties stand to gain from the agitation and what happened at Seelampur.
A person who was witness to the chaos in Seelampur, said only the anti-social elements are responsible for it. “None of the people whose houses were sealed were involved in the agitation,” he claimed.
“The traders' agitation was going on in an orderely fashion until a group of boys aged between 18-25 years joined in. They started creating trouble by pelting stones. One cannot say with certainty where did they came from," another resident of Seelampur recalls.
Pointing fingers at the role of the police, Verma said the police had no right to fire bullets the way they did. “There are other ways to control the agitation. They could have used water cannons."
Reports also said that the goons were sent by political parties and politicians did have blood in their hands in the Seelampur incident.
Verma, for one, is accused of having tried to enter an agitation in which he had no role to play and thereby creating a situation where innocent people were caught in the crossfire. "We are a political party and we have everything to do with the situation. But we did not create it," defends Verma
CIAT President said since the agitation is related to the life of the common man, if politicians attempt to derive political mileage out of it, they will not let it happen.
Should courts be allowed to decide on matters of public policy?
“No, there is a complete misconception. The court is not deciding for you what kind of a city you must have. And the RWAs are not essentially wrong in going to the courts because what they were talking about was a point of law,” People's Action President Kaul said.
“The court is only transferring to you the knowledge that ‘this is your law and this is what it says, just follow it'. There is no harm in that. But even after having been pointed that out, the government of the day failed to respond to the problem at hand,” Kaul alleged.
“The court should not be blamed as it has to carry on the proceedings according to the law book,” says a trader. “This problem has not cropped up overnight, it has been going on for over 45 years. Now, if all of a sudden the court decides to pass a verdict, it is bound to create problem,” he added.
“People want a solution and that is why we are in the courts,” says Kaul. “The target should have been, must be and will always continue to be the government. What troubles the courts the most is that the government is trying to interfere and evade the problem,” he added.
Should commercials and residential complexes co-exist?
Mumbai-based architect Hafeez Contractor says he was fully in support of having residential and commercial activities quite adjacent to each other. “Our cities are heading for a disaster and our government should get up from its sleep and take stock of the urban chaos. What has happened in the city is only the tip of the iceberg," he added.
Ramanathan, adviser to the Urban Development Ministry, too agrees that the chaos that Delhi is facing right now is not limited to Delhi alone. It is spreading across the country. “Like everything else, unless we are all impacted, the way we are currently, the intensity of the emotions is not going to rise and solutions will not emerge.”
“The unfortunate part is that we have allowed urbanisation to creep upon us. Over the last 20-30 years, our government system, bureaucracy, politicians, policy-makers have ignored urbanisation in India,” he said.
What is the possible solution to avert this chaos?
“The solution is that we have to look at our cities as a concentrated development rather than spreading them over where the government can’t take care of the infrastructure,” said Hafiz Contractor.
Trader’s union president Khandelwal suggested a more clear line of action. He said steps are required to bridge the divide between ground reality and planning. “Availability (of land) with affordability should be the motto. There should not be any disparity between planning and ground realities,” he said, adding that “an urban regulatory authority should be formed. Also, there should be zonal development committees.”
President of People's Action, Sanjay Kaul, said: “We need to attack the problem in an integrated fashion. You will have to accommodate the aspirations of all the sections of society. We are not a homogenous society. There are too many differences between sectors and areas which need to be considered while deciding policies and actions.”
Former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma says the solution is to implement the Master Plan. “Master plan 2021 for which the people of Delhi are waiting anxiously should come as early as possible. It should be flexible and should take into consideration the population of 2021 and not the size of 2003,” he says.
“Master plan is just one of the solutions,” he says, adding that it is more important for the people of Delhi to know where they stand. A shop owner has a right to know if his shop is legal or not. He must know it beforehand whether his shop would be demolished or sealed at some time in future,” Verma said.
“Lastly, there should be more and more development in the rural areas. The rural areas are backward and there are no jobs or infrastructure. If you develop the rural areas more and more people would like to stay there. They will not migrate as much as they do right now,” he added.
Audience Verdict:
In the voting on the question -- Are our cities are heading towards urban chaos? – 88 per cent of the studio audience voted ‘yes’ while 12 per cent said ‘no’. In a nationwide poll on the same question, 60 per cent of the respondents said ‘Yes’ while 40% said ‘No’.
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