Civic Sense
Believe it or not, this metropolis never had a town planner since 1947. Onlylast month did those in charge of Kolkata’s upkeep and development take a hardand close look around them to discover the mess this city is in. And realisationdawned on them that we urgently need a town planner. This realisation was in nosmall measure due to Kolkata Municipal Corporation Commissioner AlapanBandopadhyay who, as I said last week, is a sensible man. And also to a lot ofprodding by aid agencies like the DFID, the ADB and US Aid that are fundingvarious projects in the city. Now, a postgraduate in town planning, DipankarSinha, has been appointed the town planner and he has an onerous mandate—toset right the problems created by unregulated and even ludicrous developmentover the past 60 years and frame guidelines for future projects to ensurebalanced and aesthetic growth across the city. As Bandopadhyay said recently,"we (meaning Kolkata’s successive civic bosses, developers, planners andrealtors) have made a mess of the name of development, be it in laying roads,setting up markets or erecting buildings". Kolkata, he rightly warned, willdie of suffocation if this unplanned development is not halted immediately. Allthis is fine, but I can’t help wondering why this realisation (that haphazardand unaesthetic development will choke this city and make it an ugly place)never dawned on all those who’ve presided over Kolkata’s destiny all theseyears. Were they devoid of any common sense? And can, or will, Kolkatans holdthem responsible for failing in their duties?