City on steroids - is this a real development?

During my recent visit to India, I saw great enthusiasm among people about the issue of development. One reason for this can be the issue of development was also debated during the recent general election for parliament. This also had a backdrop of phenomenal economic development in the last decade or so, people in India have experienced phenomenal economic growth in the last few decades and this has created a lot of enthusiasm about more economic development. I don't think anyone will disagree that economic development is necessary for India to generate more jobs for its youth. This is the reason many cities in India are growing very fast, but the main question is are they growing in the right direction? 

My home town Pune just a couple of decades back a small city with a beautiful climate and was surrounded by beautiful hills. Since the last decade or so it has grown very fast, so fast that if someone who visited this city 8-9 years back visits it now they may not recognize that it is the same Pune. It hosts a large number of software and other companies, industrial and economic growth of this city in the last decade or so has been phenomenal. This growth has also resulted in a real estate boom in this city, prices of properties and lands are skyrocketing, and there is some type of construction work going on on every empty land. This has resulted in a lot of unplanned growth in Pune. Even the hills are not spared from the construction. Many hills are now occupied by some sort of construction (legal or illegal). It is hard to imagine that the place on which these structures are standing was a beautiful hill just a few years back. Development as such comes with some side effects which are manageable if handled properly but unplanned and uncontrolled development comes with many serious side effects. These side effects can have serious consequences like flash floods, and they affect the lives of the people who live in them. As expected, pollution levels are going up in each and every city in India, and there is no proper mechanism to monitor this or any serious efforts made to handle these issues. The unplanned growth of cities is putting a lot of stress on the already overburdened infrastructure of those cities. Traffic conditions are horrible in many places which causes a lot of inconvenience to travelers, and people's habit of not following any traffic rules makes it worse. 

Currently, Pune looks like a city on steroids, growing uncontrollably in all directions wherever it can find empty space. Definitely, economic growth is happening and people are getting richer, one can see economic prosperity coming in families but at the same time, quality of life in terms of proper infrastructure, school system, and government services, is not improving for everyone. Government offices are still very crowded with rampant corruption, and economic development has not been able to check corruption. The public school system is still in horrible condition and it is a tough task to get your kid admitted to any good private school without any political influence or paying heavy donations. There is an upper middle class who can afford to do all these things as they earn enough money to support this type of lifestyle. But at the same time, there is no change in the lives of many lower-middle-class people who are somehow stuck in the same vicious cycle of poverty and lack of proper education. Stress on the city's infrastructure is immense. Pune really needs a properly planned metro, monorail, or some reliable public transport system that can reduce the number of vehicles on its roads. The current public transport system is not able to satisfy the requirements of the growing population which needs a reliable alternative to commute in the city. I think this is the story of more or less all growing cities in India. Some cities like Delhi and Mumbai managed to modernize their public transport system but even there also still there is huge gap between demand and supply.

I wish that concerned authorities take into consideration the consequences of this unplanned growth very seriously and take appropriate steps. Once the city grows with many illegal and unorganized constructions it is really difficult to get rid of them just because so many people occupy these places and it is impossible to take any action against them. This has happened in the past and it seems the administration has not learned any lesson from these incidents. I only hope that economic or real estate growth happens with proper planning and according to available resources in that city. This will allow people to enjoy a comfortable life without being worried about whether they can reach the hospital in time during any medical emergency because of heavy and undisciplined traffic on the roads of the city. People of Pune also should play an important role in this, they need to follow traffic rules and try to keep their city clean. If Pune can show that a growing city can be disciplined and well-organized, it can become an example for all other cities to follow. A city on steroids will grow for sure but that growth is not healthy and natural and I think the people of Pune prefer their beloved city to grow naturally retaining its beauty and natural climate. Let's see if people choose planned and organized growth or if they are fine with this unorganized rampant growth which might create more problems than solutions.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]