E-Paper
In a chaotic city, state at a loss
VARANASI: A senior police official takes out a sheet of paper and begins drawing the map of Varanasi. It is a maze of roads and lanes.
VARANASI: A senior police official takes out a sheet of paper and begins drawing the map of Varanasi. It is a maze of roads and lanes.
He says, “Do you know of any other city which from the beginning to the end is populated by shops on both sides? The shopkeeper then rents out the space in front to another vendor.” This means that all arterial roads are blocked, with no designated spot for parking. “This city may be religious, but its DNA is commercial. There is no separation between the residential and commercial. What do we do?”
His sense of resignation is shared by the BJP mayor of the city, Ram Gopal Mohley.
When asked why his city remains congested, Mohley reacts, angrily, “This is the oldest living city in the world. There are 18 lakh people. The temple is located within the city centre. We cannot do development by stopping traditions. What do we do?”
There is no city in UP – or perhaps in all of north India – that exemplifies the challenges of urban governance more acutely than Varanasi.
It is ancient yet confronted by both modern demographic and commercial impulses. It is a symbol of political power – PM Narendra Modi is the city MP – yet state authorities are either helpless or unable to cope with its seeming anarchy. It is the gateway to one of India’s poorest parts, Purvanchal, yet there are a few who believe that UP’s 2017 elections will be fought on transforming the city.
THE CHAOS
From a boatman at the ghat to a tourist shopping for saris, there is a strikingly common complaint about Varanasi: congestion. Ravindar Jaiswal, BJP MLA, explains the problem. “The core city, from Varun to Assi, is six to seven kilometres. The entire municipal authority area is 18 kms.” This is home to not just the city’s population. “Tourists, pilgrims and migrant workers are here in lakhs.”
The police official said this could have been managed had there been planned urbanisation. “But nothing was planned, the density increased exponentially and now there is a crisis of civic amenities.” He explains its impact on law enforcement. “We can manage motors, but we cannot manage traffic. Our patrolling is weak in the old city with narrow lanes. Our response time to any incident is slow.”
INSTITUTIONAL DISCORD
SP runs the state government, but BJP has the most mayors in UP’s bigger cities. Mohley complains that the state has not implemented the 74th amendment which empowered local self-government in urban areas.
The mayor’s complaint about the absence of 74th amendment is genuine, but it would have struck a chord if the municipality was clean. An official in the mayor’s office told HT about the rampant corruption. “We have cars for officials, dumper trucks to clean the city. For diesel, petrol and car repair, bills are always inflated. The engineering department repairs roads. They show it on paper but no work gets done. Or work is done in a manner that they will have to dig it again. “
There is also lack of coordination between the various institutions – the municipal corporation, the city development authority, the public works department, the Jal Nigam and the electricity board. As entrepreneur Gaurav Kapur says, “Today, the road is dug up to lay out a sewage line. It is partly covered up. Tomorrow, another department comes to lay underground electricity cables. Then, someone comes to install fibre optic cable. The departments don’t talk to each other.”
POLITICAL WILL
The sense of resignation is no answer. Kapur argues, “Is the state then telling us it can do nothing? What stops them from better planning, from developing a satellite city, from at least stopping sewage from going into the Ganga?”
HOPE FOR CHANGE?
Jaiswal, the MLA, speaks of the centre’s decision to allocate Rs 18,000 crore for roads around the city.
He also highlights additional schemes to clear water-logging, to clear roads, for underground electric cables, and modernisation of small railway stations. But citizens remain sceptical whether it will translate on the ground.
But making urban transformation a central plank in UP’s elections is a distant proposition. As a Varanasi politician says, “Caste and religion matter; Money and organisation matter. Neither politicians nor citizens are ready to make sacrifices necessary for this city to change. Don’t expect 2017 to be any different.”
