CHAOTIC URBAN GROWTH IMPROVE INFRASTRUCTURE IN RURAL AREAS FIRST

CHAOTIC URBAN GROWTH
IMPROVE INFRASTRUCTURE IN RURAL AREAS FIRST
BY G.S. GREWAL (THE TRIBUNE 16 MARCH 2009)

ACCORDING to a press report, many acres of acquired land in Gurgaon remained unutilised for about 30 years. Now every inch of it has been occupied by encroachers. The government is in a fix how to get it vacated. Many of the illegal occupiers are influential persons. This is not an exceptional case. Such examples can be multiplied.

The Land Acquisition Act was enacted in 1894. It is difficult to conceive a harsher Act. It suited the British rulers. Some changes have been made, but its hardship persists.

To begin with, the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act, 1995, under which planning is done for development, was quite reasonable. There were provisions in it for people's participation at all stages of selection of site, planning and implementation of schemes of developments. People could be made partners in development and land pooling policy could be adopted.

But even The Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) never acted on those provisions. As a consequence, some of the best and ambitious projects had to be given up for violation of mandatory provisions of law.

The prestigious project of Anandgarh in the neighbourhood of Chandigarh could not materialise because of this reason. The high court quashed 29 notifications issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act for the construction of a new city of Anandgarh for only the reason that the authorities did not follow all provisions of the law.

Twentynine appeals were filed each by the state of Punjab and the Development Authority separately to challenge the decision of the high court. Crores of rupees were spent on those appeals in the Supreme Court. Best advocates were arranged. Still the Supreme Court was not convinced that non-compliance of the law was justified. All appeals were dismissed.

As a consequence, the project had to be shelved. No one analysed, why? In 2006 even Punjab amended the Regional Town and Planning and Development Act, 1995. All people-oriented provisions have been deleted, but the situation remains the same.

Due to an unsympathetic attitude of the authorities, people are provoked. They fight both in courts and on the streets, obstructing and slowing down development.

The law may be harsh or soft, what matters is its implementation. Mostly, the attitude of the bureaucracy is secretive and hard. It provokes suspicion and resentment.

In Haryana and the UT there is no procedure to select sites for development, which is done arbitrarily and in haste. Many a time mistake is realised after spending crores of rupees on land acquisition. Land remains unutilised and attracts grabbers.

The Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act, 1995 is almost a copy of the Maharashtra Act. Maharashtra is an industrially advanced state in the country. It has an effective urban development wing. Very few writ petitions are filed regarding acquisition. In that state the total land required for development is not acquired. Only that land is acquired which is needed for roads, drainage, hospitals or schools etc. The remaining land is developed by the local authorities or by people by forming land-pooling schemes. The process may be slow but it works with the cooperation of people and there is much less resentment.

In northern states, the authorities have no patience to plan things in advance and in detail. They know how to acquire land, eject people, take possession and then make plans for development. Neither in Punjab and Haryana nor in the UT any scheme is ever made for the resettlement of oustees.

After making roads and drainage and laying water pipes and fixing electric poles, plots are sold at a price which the lower middle and poor classes cannot buy. They remain homeless and shelterless even under new projects.

Most of the plots/flats around Zirakpur have been purchased by middlemen to make profit. To buy a three-bedroom flat in these colonies is beyond the reach of an average middle class family.

There are about 100 slums around Panchkula the UT and Mohali. If half the population of Mumbai lives in slums, then more than one-third of Chandigarh also lives in slums. The UT has tried to settle a few thousand poor people near Malloya village, but the number of slums around Chandigarh, Panchkula, Mohali has not decreased.

Now they are adopting another method. The government developing authority demarcates some area and gives a licence to builders to purchase land and make colonies. In this method farmers are happy because they get a reasonable price of their land. But flats constructed on such land are comparatively expensive for an average citizen. This procedure is better because it avoids resentment of the original owner of land. In this method the government has to see that the contractor provides facilities like sewerage, roads and water supply.

There is something drastically wrong in our planning. Planned portions of cities do look imposing and beautiful. But our planning is also creating slums, misery, diseases and crime.

It will be an admission of the failure of system if we keep believing that all growth invariably creates misery and we are helpless.

The Constitution has provided method of planning which start at the grassroots. Article 243 ZD provides for creating district planning committees comprising elected representatives of panchayats and municipalities. These planning committees are to be guided by experts.

These committees are most suited to create infrastructure at the base level. Our rural people should be able to get employment in their own surroundings. This is the only way to stop the rural exodus to the urban areas. To keep cities worthy of living, we have to improve our rural infrastructure first.

For the last 60 years Indian planning has been starting from the top. Its impact is lost by the time it reaches lower levels. The need is to reverse the process. Guidelines are provided in the Constitution. We have to reverse the whole process. Maybe it produces better results at lower costs. Just in one push, Punjab succeeded in constructing road links to each village. This one step has played a major role in the advancement of Punjab even without big industries.

Planning through district development committees is successfully working in some states. The authorities in northern states are avoiding these provisions because it requires detailed planning and hard work. We must try new ideas and should not shirk hard work, otherwise we would have no development but protests and agitations.

The writer is a Senior Advocate at the Punjab and Haryana High Court

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with regards
Parveen Gulia
M.Tech (Infrastructure Planning)
Cont. No.- 09256015406