Metro for Chandigarh – A sure way to disaster

Whosoever said that “The road to hell is paved with bricks of good intention,” knew how the masses can be manipulated into thinking that they will benefit if a particular idea is executed. Metro for Chandigarh is just another example of misleading and manipulating the common people for gains other than public welfare.

The first thing that goes into planning of MRTS (Mass Rapid Transport System) is to understand the extent of congestion, the existing walkability within the city and an appreciation of the fact, as to whether the capacity of the surface transport has been exhausted to its limits. Interestingly, according to the ‘Ministry of Urban Development’ official report, Chandigarh has zero (0) congestion index, which is the least in the country. Chandigarh also has the highest walkability index of 0.91 in the entire country. We have still not exhausted our surface transport options. The “City Bus Transport Supply Index (CBTSI)” for Chandigarh is just 17.54, which is quite low for organised cities of this size. For example, the CBTSI for Trivandrum is 20, Madurai is 42.7, Hyderabad is 31, Chennai is 39, Delhi is 43, Kolkata is 26. A mere perusal of this data shows that there is no requirement for Metro or Monorail in Chandigarh. 

Global studies and experience has shown that Metro is a desirable option only for high density corridors and with long trip length of an average of more than 14Km. In Chandigarh the average journey time using private mode of transport is between 5 minutes to 17.5 minutes. This reflects that the majority of the trips generated in the city are short trips in the order of 2.5 to 9.6 km in length. In Chandigarh nearly 71 percent of the motor vehicle is two-wheelers. Around 83 percent of all trips are those work trips which are accessible in 15 minutes time. Clearly Metro is not a feasible option on this count too.

Another thing to be considered for feasibility of Metro is the “Per Hour Peak Direction Trips (PHPDT),” which is the average number of people in any particular area (corridor) travelling during the peak traffic time. While rejecting the proposal of Metro for Chandigarh, the eleven membered committee set up by the Central Government to asses an appropriate MRTS for the region mentioned that, “Whatever be the merits of a conventional metro system, whether below or above the ground or on the surface, such a mode is justified only when the demand is 60-70,000 PHPDT.” In case of Chandigarh the maximum traffic demand estimated by the year 2041 is 30,000 PHPDT, which does not justify spending public money on Metro. Even the Metro expert E. Sreedharan has rejected the option of Metro for Chadnigarh. 

The cost of constructing and running Metro too must be considered. Even if part financing comes from the central government, still Chandigarh will have to spend over a couple of thousand Crores for the construction alone. One of the options given by the officials (and the 2009 RITES report) is that, “Funds are proposed to be retained through property development, i.e. sale of Commercial plots in Chandigarh, the property/ plots earmarked for this purpose may be transferred by the Chandigarh Administration.”  This is sure way to disaster. Not only will this disturb the entire planning of Chandigarh but it will then bring in disastrous chaos as a result of the new commercial plots put for sale for constructing Metro. The miseries will not end here, besides the initial development cost of Rs. 150 crores per km. there would be a prohibitive recurring cost of running the Metro, which means, that the public has to bear the losses from year-to-year even if the average trip cost is kept at Rs. 50 compared to Rs. 10 for a bus-ride. 

Instead of wasting thousands of Crores on Metro, Chandigarh must use a bus based rapid transport system which is capable of carrying 30,000 PHPDT very comfortably. (See the table) Most of the chaos created in Chandigarh is mainly because of not following the Master Plan made by Le Corbusier, disturbing the sanctity of ‘Chandigarh’s periphery’ shifting of the bus-stand and plying the buses irrationally. If viable, rational, reliable, effective and fast bus transport system is given to the people of Chandigarh, it would be easily able to meet the cities need for another 40 years. 

Many bureaucrats are proposing Metro for Chandigarh just because they see good money and spill-over coming to them through sale of land, showrooms and contracts executed in the name of Metro. Bureaucrats, who are spending public money on reports and consultants to push the idea for Metro in Chandigarh after two successive committees of the Central Government have said that Metro for Chandigarh is not feasible, are wasting public resources besides cheating the public.

Hemant Goswami

Someone forgot ……. India won its independence in 1947 : The colonial shades

While scanning the expenses of the Governor of Punjab, we found large scale wastage of resources through the office of the Governor’s. The office operates more-or-less without any accountability, supervision and responsibility. A large number of staff personnel, not required otherwise, have been appointed to take care of the Governor.

 

Besides 130 people in the personal staff of the Governor, there are hundreds from the Para-military, State Government and other providing services to the Governor. Most of these people appointed in the personal staff of the Governor have no useful job to perform. As an example some of the personal staff persons are listed below just to highlight the issue;

 

Post	No. of employee’s in the category
Drivers	9
Head Driver	1
Clerks/Garage Clerk	3
Head Khidmatgar	1
Head House Bearer	1
Tailor	1
Cooks	4
Daftri	1
Jamadar of Peons	4
House Bearer	4
Khidmatgar	8
Camp Jamadar	1
Asstt. Camp Jamadar	2
Jamadar of Sweepers	1
Peons	18
Masalchi	6
Bhishti	2
Khalasi	8
Mate to Dhobi	1
Scooter Driver	1
Chowkidar	1
Chowkidar cum Sweeper	1
Cleaner	1
Sweepers	6

 

Surprisingly even in the 21^st century, the Governor needs Bhisti, Khidmatgar, Masalchi and Khalashi. Apparently, bridging the gap with the modern development, the Governor house has also appointed a ‘Scooter Driver.” Undersigned fails to comprehend the hard physical work which the Governor does, justifying the needs of six Masalchi’s.

 

The wage bill and sundry liabilities of the personal staff of the Punjab Governor comes to over Rs. 2,20,00,000/-

 

Wasting and spending this kind of money for maintaining one person is nothing short of a criminal act in a country where the per capita income at current prices is estimated at Rs 29,642 and where over 400 million people are still living below the extreme poverty level (earning less than Rs 40/- a day).

 

There is an urgent need to shed the opulent style of the erstwhile “Governor-Generals/Governor” of the colonial India and stop this wasteful expenditure in the name of the office of the Governor. Thought not of immediate importance, but still, we must also ponder upon the question if we really require an office of the Governor.

 

It looks like that someone forgot to remind the Government, that India did attain independence on August 15, 1947 and that in independent and democratic India scarce public resources could not be wasted like this.

 

Hemant Goswami

Chandigarh decaying in the name of development

The contribution of Chandigarh

After having spent my childhood in Chandigarh, it took me nearly twenty years to understand the contribution of Chandigarh to the development of India. The more I travelled around the country, the more I got convinced about how Chandigarh had silently shaped the development of modern urban India.

 

As the first modern planned city of Independent India, conceived by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Chandigarh was deemed as a city “unfettered by the traditions of the past, a symbol of the nation’s faith in the future.” Chandigarh, indeed, has no reflection of our colonial past and has truly paved the way for modern cities with proper ur­ban planning and well laid out mas­ter plans. Most Indian cities were later built on the success of Chandigarh as a modern city.

 

A City now killed by whims of individuals

 

Le Corbusier had visualised the possibility of greedy and oppor­tunistic people trying to hijack the materialistic returns which Chandigarh could provide and so he passed on the responsibility to save Chandigarh on its citizens. While laying down the ‘Edicts of Chandigarh,” he clearly wrote, “The object of this edict is to en­lighten the present and future citi­zens of Chandigarh about the basic concepts of planning of the city so that they become its guardians and save it from the whims of indi­viduals.” Though Corbusier was foresighted enough to ensure leg­islative protection to the city but within fifty years, the termite of greed and corruption has started pushing Chandigarh to the path of self-destruction.

 

Murder in the name of futuristic development

 

“Shouldn’t Chandigarh also progress and become dynamic with time?” was the counter-question of the bureaucratic mouth-piece of the property mafia when they were recently confronted with the unsci­entific abrasive sale of property in Chandigarh.

 

I ask: Is a “Film-City” a require­ment of the city? Is a hundred acre ‘Amusement park” within Chandi­garh the need of a city with 114 square km of area? Is a “Milk City” and a “Vegetable market” built by uprooting thousands of farmers from Chandigarh a prudent futur­istic idea?

 

Is constructing commercial flats till the regulatory end of the lake, a development in the interest of the city? Is selling a two room flat for 60 lakh the dream of a socialist Pandit Nehru? Is inviting migratory popu­lation to Chandigarh, in the name of various projects, a prudent idea? No unbiased urban development expert can justify any of these acts in Chandigarh. In the last five years, the city has seen open loot and plundering in the name of development. Unfortunately all this so called development activities have made the city more fragile and less adaptable for the natural evolutionary process of development.

 

Chandigarh – The loose end of democratic India

 

The 1980’s were a bad phase for the region. During the Punjab disturbance, the bureaucratic control of Chandigarh also got disturbed. The changes effected included the Punjab Governor assuming the role of “Administrator” or the chief executive officer of Chandigarh. This change of guard has proven fatal for Chandigarh as it shifted the decision taking power from the hand of the Union Min­istry and Parliament to the hand of an unelected political nominee who has all the reasons to be tempted to act on his whims and fancies instead of following the scientific ap­proaches.

 

In my opinion, Governors are mostly political appointees, assum­ing power only as a reward for their sycophancy and on the basis of “who-knows-who” politics. They are not accountable to the people or the parliament either directly or indirectly and only answer to their political masters. That’s one of the reasons why our Constitution does not provide for any executive pow­ers to the Governor. Giving execu­tive powers and the control of the state to a person who does not rep­resent the faith of the people is un­democratic and against the very ba­sis of the constitution. Chandigarh has fallen into this peculiar trap and has become the only state in the country which is being ruled by someone not answerable to the par­liament either directly or indirectly.

 

Save Chandigarh before it is too late

 

There is an urgent need to get back to the basics. All the futuristic development plans of Chandigarh have to go into the hands of the ur­ban-development experts and not the non-technical bureaucrats of doubtful integrity. The desired ex­trapolated growth has to be as sci­entific as the initial concept of Chandigarh was. It has to eliminate the possibility of personal whims and plug the leakages through the legislative route. If someone is un­happy with the concept of Chandi­garh, let him or her go and construct another Chandigarh instead of tin­kering with the present one. The cit­izens of the city have to stand up and fight to protect this city.

 

HEMANTGOSWAMI