Influence of planned urban development in Kolkata’s peri-urban areas: A case of Mahishbathan Gram Panchayat
region in Kolkata’s peri-urban areas. In addition, the last part of this chapter focusses thoroughly on the study region. The study region till the last decade was one of the prominent peri-urban areas of Kolkata. But currently with New Town developing rapidly, this peri-urban areas are slowly integrating and getting squeezed in between the surrounding planned developments. Thus, the last part of this chapter deals with the evolution of the study region, with brief emphasis on the formal-informal relationship here. Additionally, this region has had quite a dark socio-political history, having been less emphasized by the media. Therefore, the primary purpose of this literature review, is to get an understanding of the peri-urban regions to a great extent and also to understand the study region from a socialist perspective and learning the political scene in the region.
2.2 Peri-Urban Interface in the Indian context In terms of categorizing issues for the peri-urban areas, most of the peri-urban regions in the Global South face identical issues. The greatest issue that needs attention anywhere, is the access to basic services. The fringes of many cities suffer from poor infrastructure and service provision, adding with it the incapacity of the local governments (Dahiya, 2003). The local governments in peri-urban areas lack the administrative capacity to collect, transport and dispose of the waste (Dahiya, 2003). Moreover, lack of sanitary workers and poor financial situation aggravates the solid waste management. Through this study done by Dahiya in 2003, it is also noted that the town of Valasaravakkam in peri-urban Chennai is an example which faces these kinds of issues. In regions like Kathivakkam in the peri-urban regions of Chennai, due to financial issues, the local governments are unable to afford modern waste collection technologies and hence they rely on outdated modes of waste collection, like bullock carts (Dahiya, 2003). This leads to inefficient waste collection and also leads to a large amount of waste not getting collected. Other issues related to waste collection, include the unavailability of dustbins or when the dustbins are not in order. In the towns of Thruvottiyur and Ernavoor in the northern fringes of Chennai, dustbins are not in order, which leads to the accumulation of waste on the street and the vacant plots. This poses a serious threat to the environment and also poses health hazards (Dahiya, 2003). Regions like Valasaravakkam, actually faces major issues in terms of solid waste 20
