UrbanUpdate September 2018

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume V, Issue V

September 2018

E-Vehicles

Future of

mobility

One On One

Steep increase in pollution in Indian cities, significant evolution of technology in e-mobility segment, and a host of other factors are impelling all tiers of governments to create a viable ecosystem to promote e-vehicles in India

Corruption is a challenge even today

The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

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Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

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ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume V, Issue V

September 2018

E-Vehicles

Future of

Steep increase in pollution in Indian cities, significant evolution of technology in e-mobility segment, and a host of other factors are impelling all tiers of government to create a viable ecosystem to promote e-vehicles in India

mobility

Prateek Singh Aman Saxena Editorial Assistants Meenakshi Rajput Rajesh Singh Senior Graphic Designers

ONE ON ONE

Corruption is a challenge even today

The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

Volume V - Issue V Printed and published by Ranjit Chavan on behalf of All India Institute of Local Self-Government.

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September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

EDITORIAL

UN World Cities Day

Participation can enable sustainable, resilient cities

B

etter City, Better Life is the common theme of the UN World Cities Day which is observed by the United Nations on October 31 every year. The sub-theme for the year 2018 is Building Sustainable and Resilient Cities. The observance of this day since the year 2014 is intended to promote international interest in urbanisation and mobilize engagement and cooperation among stakeholders in harnessing the opportunities that urbanisation offers while addressing the challenges it poses. The theme for 2018 will help focus on the challenges pertaining to urban services and infrastructure with emphasis on inclusivity and climate change implications, while addressing the need to beef up cities’ ability to cope with acute shocks and chronic stresses; in other words building sustainability and resilience into the urbanisation narrative.

The theme for this year is surely apt and timely given the extreme stresses cities everywhere are faced with – those related to poor air quality, congestion, service delivery deficits, safety, and exposure to natural disasters.Rapid and relentless urbanisation has placed disproportionately greater burden on the less privileged; these populations face hardships with regard to housing, water supply, sanitation, etc. While attempting to meet the needs of the ever growing population, cities are faced with seemingly unsurmountable hurdles with respect to sustainability and environment degradation.

Water supply, waste management, mobility, etc. pose particularly daunting obstacles.

Building sustainable cities will require large doses of citizen awareness and participation. Take water, for example. There is need to rationalize water use, conserve ground water and adopt measures like rainwater harvesting and recycling. None of this is possible without the active and wholehearted cooperation of the citizen. Similar is the issue with respect to waste management. Both water and waste have far reaching implications for cities in their march towards inclusiveness and sustainability.

Building resilience into cities is the other pillar of the theme for this year’s World Cities Day. Cities are subject to acute, sharp shocks such as floods, landslides, earthquakes and terror attacks as well as chronic, prolonged stresses like congestion, poor air quality, weakening economy, and deficits in housing, food, water and healthcare. All these call for building

resilience or the ability to adapt, survive and grow nonetheless. Among the qualities that resilient cities demonstrate is inclusivity – they prioritize broad consultation to create a sense of shared ownership in decision making (www.100resilientcities.org). There is thus realization of the need for community participation and institutional support across a wide spectrum of stakeholders in making cities resilient.

This World Cities Day, it is hoped, will involve widespread participation of the urban community in reshaping the city landscape to ensure realization of the theme for the year; and thereby in realizing the Sustainable Development Goal 11 – Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Among other developments, three Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Kochi and Nagpur were selected for implementation of ‘Mobilise Your City’ (MYC), an international initiative backed and funded by the European Union and governments of France and Germany. The 3.5 million Euro funding is expected to implement innovations in sustainable, low-carbon urban mobility in these cities. Green urban mobility has been receiving wide attention from a spectrum of governments and corporates in order to address the soaring challenges of congestion, accidents and emissions. We believe the MYC project in these three cities can act as a pilot for other cities and help address a chronic pain of Indian cities.

This issue of Urban Update looks at various aspects of urban mobility and seeks to generate debate and deliberation on the subject.

Rajiv Agarwal Editor-In-Chief dg@aiilsg.org

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

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Quotes

Policy makers should take their feet off the brakes, send a clear signal that the new growth story is here and that it comes with exciting economic and market opportunities. $26 trillion and a more sustainable planet are on offer if we act decisively now

Planned development and pollutionfree environment are two key issues for the government’s smart cities programme. The government, including local bodies, has to learn to create smart cities Nitin Gadkari Union Minister, Road Transport & Highways, Govt. of India

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Former Finance Minister of Nigeria

PIN POINT Unlike other major global health risks, levels of insufficient physical activity are not falling worldwide, on average, and over a quarter of all adults are not reaching the recommended levels of physical activity for good health

Rapidly evolving technologies and business models are transforming the mobility sector. New pathways are emerging to provide clean, cost effective mobility services that create new jobs. India has a leapfrog opportunity Amitabh Kant CEO, NITI Aayog

Regina Guthold Lead author, WHO

BUZZ January Makamba

InsideClimate News

World Wildlife Fund

@JMakamba

@insideclimate

@World_Wildlife

@EstherPassaris

Tanzanian Politician

Non Profit News Organisation

Non-governmental organization

Kenyan social entrepreneur

In the next 30 years, Africa will have more people living in urban areas than its entire population today. By 2020, the Gulf of Guinea will have more than 300 cities with 100,000 or more people. Dar will double its population in the next 15 years

They’re easy to overlook, and often hard to find, but urban trees are every bit as important to cities as water, sewer and transportation systems

Food production is responsible for 75 per cent of global deforestation.

Without trees, the ecosystem that supports the human population can fall apart. Eat smart to help protect the world’s forests and fight climate change

Well planned footpaths provide continuous space for walking. They also support other activities such as street vending and waiting at bus stops without compromising pedestrian mobility

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September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Esther M Passaris

inside

Inside Volume 5, Issue 5

40

Articles

32

34

36

Mobility, pollution & possible solutions It’s a well established fact that economic development is directly related to personal mobility. This is true across nations and over decades. As India aspires to become the second largest economy in the world by 2050, it must be prepared for a rapid increase in demand for mobility

Count the ecological costs of the national waterways project The National Waterways project is being pursued citing multiple advantages to humans, mostly to the city dwellers. The fact is that rivers are ecological entities and that biodiversity dependent on them are at severe stress

Cover Story

28

Where are cities heading?

Cities cannot just be about infrastructure.

The infrastructure has to be for the people. If the city is the world which man created, it is the world in which he is henceforth condemned to live. Thus, indirectly, and without any clear sense of the nature of his task, in making the city man has remade himself.”

LEADerspeak

30

Love, life and light Paris a moveable feast History is what describes Paris. Add to it fashion, lifestyle, lights and romance that defines Paris. As the adage goes ‘love is in the air’, travelers and revelers all throng the city for the kiss that would last lifelong

RegularS

6 8 12

Pin Point Equi-City Newscan

15 44 46

Book Review Urban Agenda

What do cities need in Mass Transit systems?

People living in big cities often jostle for space on roads and inside public transport systems in peak hours to reach their workplaces. The same struggle continues in the evenings. To create comfortable ride for urban commuters, governments are accelerating the pace of building metro systems, introducing more buses on roads and taking several innovative initiatives to provide last mile connectivity is creating more mobility alternatives

one on one

38

39 City Images

Future of Mobility

Steep increase in pollution in Indian cities, significant evolution of

technology in e-mobility segment, and a host of other factors are impelling all tiers of governments to create a viable ecosystem to promote e-vehicles in India

travelogue

40

September 2018

Corruption is a challenge even today Corruption is there in entire India but too much corruption is going on in Uttar Pradesh. We have to keep a control on it and that money should be used properly

Challenges must be met at all costs Since two and a half years I am at this position. In this duration we faced many challenges and solved many of them. I would like to say that after coming into politics and this post of mayor or the post of chairman is not anything small

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

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feature Equi-City

Equi-city team conducts focussed discussions to empower citizens The participation of citizens in the political process is an indispensable component of democracy. Tactics and strategies for increased citizen participation in local governance can be seen around the globe. Civil and political rights, including freedom of expression and access to information, which are at the basis of political participation, are human rights in themselves. Community participation can be loosely defined as the involvement of people in a community in projects to solve their own problems.

Community Participation is especially important in emergency sanitation programmes where people may be accustomed to their surroundings and new sanitation facilities Team Equi-City

T

he participation of citizens in the political process is an indispensable component of democracy.

Tactics and strategies for increased citizen participation in local governance can be seen around the globe. Citizen participation in local governance involves ordinary citizens assessing their own needs and participating in local project planning and budget monitoring. It is important for improving public resource management and reducing corruption, by making public servants and political leaders accountable to the people. For citizen participation to work, transparency of government information is required, as considerably as the inclusion of members in decision-making from groups whose concerns are being directed. Excluding the weak and powerless from decisionmaking is a cause of poverty because it denies them rights and creates unequal power relationships.

One way to increase awareness and to empower citizens to have a voice is through conducting Focus Group Discussions targeting various localities in a city. The potential of

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September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Focus Group Discussions in conflict regions is especially interesting, says one participant, for opening spaces for debate and dialogue and improving transparency and the hidden social

structures that generate corruption.

The Equi-City Team moving forward with the objectives of the Project conducted Focus Group Discussions in Four Prabhags of Nagpur which were

not performing relatively well in the level of services. Based on the feedback of these Focus Group Discussions a community scorecard will be developed to bridge the gap of communication between Local Authorities and Citizen of Nagpur. Amongst several survey methodologies, FGDs are a good way to gather together people from similar backgrounds or experiences to discuss a specific issue.

A facilitator guides the discussions, introduces the topics for discussion and helps the group to participate in a free and natural discussion amongst them. The strength of FGD as a survey tool is that it allows the participants to agree or disagree with each other and hence providing valuable insights into the range of opinion and ideas, thoughts and beliefs, their experiences and practices that exist in the particular community.

The following guidelines emerged out of the discussion to build rapport with participants and conduct the discussion: ♦♦ Notify the target pool of participants about the schedule and venue (reservations of venue must be done in advance) of the discussion, and also inform them about the objective of the discussion. ♦♦ Remind the prospective participants at least 24 hours prior to the gathering; ♦♦ Ensure participation of at least 1520 members of the community, subject to its size. Attempt to include men and women of all age groups in the community. Ensure that the group is not dominated by a gender or by a sub-group of the community; ♦♦ Conduct a transect walk of the selected sites and observe the availability of services/amenities that are subject of the questionnaire; pertaining to water and sanitation.

It will help to facilitator to guide questions specific to the site; ♦♦ By the time, participants are gathering at the venue, begin discussion by engaging them with some general questions, informing them where their opinions will be

used, and lead them to a discussion pertaining to the objectives. One of the members of the team of facilitators may be assigned the responsibility of noting down responses emerging from the focus groups, and another member may photo-document or record the event on a video;

Insights from FGD’s conducted by Equi-City Team in Four Prabhags Respectively FGD-1 at Prabhag-2, Zone-9 on 3rd August, 2018 The feedback according to the citizens was that some part of zone is provided with better services as per the work efficiency of the Corporators. Other areas are totally ignored. If people are giving more money to the worker or employee, the services are regular and efficient. Hence, financially sound households are getting better services than financially weaker households due to unaffordability to pay extra money for the services. Also, the funds are not utilized which are provided for the particular scheme. If a complaint is registered in NMC, it was found that in 80 per cent of the cases employees demand for extra money. Sweepers and workers only mark the attendance but don’t work. Due to high charges of bills and extra money paid for the services, people are unable to invest more for education and house. To regulate and efficient service delivery, NMC employees should visit the area periodically. Also, meetings should be conducted to understand the demand and suggestions from the citizens. If the facilities are provided by NMC, then NMC should also take care of them.

According to the Corporators, people are unaware about the procedure and time taken to provide the services. If a particular process is taking more time, people lose confidence in the Corporator immediately.

FGD-2 at Prabhag-15, Zone-2 on 10th August, 2018 Majority

of

complaints

were

regarding cleanliness from all areas of Dharampeth zone. All complaints are noted by the commissioner and commitment has been given that immediate action will be taken. Asst Commissioner Morone gave example of Indore city’s cleanliness where everyone did their duty enthusiastically down the line. Biometric attendance system is used for safai karmachari and the system is outsourced. The attendance is updated regularly on website and Commissioner can directly monitor the attendance of safai kamgars. He said that administrative ward changes every five year.

FGD-3 at Prabhag-31, Zone-3 on 20th August, 2018 The major problem observed in the area was contamination of well water because of seepage from old sewer line and inadequate water supply since past one year even though new water supply line has been provided. According to the Corporators, Orange City Waters (OCW) is responsible for the worsening the condition of water supply and the Nagpur Municipal Corporation should take the action against them and also the old sewer line should be replaced as it is contaminating most of the wells of the area. The solid waste management services are average in the Prabhag and can be improved if attendance of Safai Kamgars is improved.

FGD-4 at Prabhag-12, Zone-2 on 29th August, 2018 The distribution of individual taps and supply of water is unequal in the area.

Availability of potable water is limited to some part of the area. Late timings for water supply causes inconvenience for working population. Also, lack of drainage network in most of the area lead to frequent water logging. Poor road network and narrow lanes are major problems which hamper service provision in all parts of the Prabhag.

Irregular door-to-door waste collection service noticed due to narrow lanes which causes difficulty in moving garbage collector vehicle. Demand for dustbins and regular cleaning facility in the area is prevalent.

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

9

AIILSG DIARIES

Ranjit Chavan (third from right), President of AIILSG, was elected the Co-President of United Cities and Local Government Asia Pacific for 2018-2020 during the 7th UCLG ASPAC Congress held in Surabaya, Indonesia.

Hansa Patel (first from left), Executive Advisor of AIILSG and the newly elected Chair of South South West Asia Committee, congratulating Tri Rismaharini (second from left), Surabaya Mayor, who was elected as the President of UCLG ASPAC for 20182020. Ravi Ranjan Guru, DDG, AIILSG, was also present (first from right)

Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General of AIILSG, felicitating students of SI Course at the annual day celebration of Delhi Center .

Ashok Wankhade, Managing Editor of Urban Update and Devarshi Pandya, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of AIILSG were also present

Rajiv Agarwal, Director General of AIILSG, (sitting fourth from left) attended an International seminar on Local Government Exchange and Cooperation Seminar 2018 in Japan. The event was for senior executives from government and social organizations to meet with Japanese public officials, to study Japanese public administration first-hand, and to exchange ideas and expertise

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September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

AIILSG DIARIES

Thackeray inaugurates AIILSG Convocation, awards certificates to meritorious students All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) organised its annual convocation ceremony at its Andheri office in Mumbai. Many dignitaries including Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena president; Subhash Desai, Maharashtra Industries Minister; Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, Mayor of Mumbai; and Ranjit Chavan, President of AIILSG were present at the occasion Mumbai: Uddhav Thackeray inaugurated the ceremony at Mayor’s Hall and distributed certificates to successful candidates who have passed Sanitary Inspector (SI) and Local SelfGovernment Diploma courses.

Thackeray congratulated the Institute for running several relevant courses.

He said that the learning never stops as we keep on learning from our daily experiences and happenings around us in society. About sanitation, he commented that it is the responsibility of every citizen to maintain cleanliness and avoid littering.

Thackeray released the new book ‘Policies and Issues in Urbanisation in India since 1990s’ written by Ranjit Chavan. AIILSG President Chavan informed the audience about the initiatives taken by AIILSG for providing qualitative and vocational guidance to students and municipal officials and also talked about the role of AIILSG in empowering civic authorities across the country. At present, AIILSG is running 42 centres in 25 states. Chavan in his welcome speech said that the convocation for award of diplomas and certificates to the successful students of the preceding academic year is held by the institute on 31 August, which is also the birthday of Late Shri C.D. Barfiwala the first Director General of the AIILSG and during his long tenure (1930-1966) he took the institute to a great height of success. Chavan added, “Uddhavji Thackeray shares a good bonding with our institution.

Our institution is running successfully since 1926 and we have made our mark not only in India but overseas. We offer

Uddhav Thackeray, President of Shiv Sena, lighting the lamp to inaugurate the Convocation Ceremony of AIILSG at its Andheri Office. Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, Mumbai Mayor; Ranjit Chavan, President of AIILSG; Ashish Deosthali, Sr Deputy Director General; Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General were among other senior officials of the institute present at the ceremony

12 courses for students pursuing Fire Academy, Fireman Course, Nursing Academy, Sanitary Inspector and other courses. More than 15 lakh students and elected representatives have been trained by the institute and they are discharging their duties in an efficient manner. Our courses are short-term and job-oriented.” Chavan also handed over a cheque of Rs 100,000 to Shivsena Kerala Relief Fund.

Subhash Desai, Maharashtra Industries Minister, said, “Balasaheb Thackeray had spoken about the importance of this institution in 1985 when Shiv Sena had emerged victorious in the BMC elections. He also recommended the name of this institution to impart training to Sena corporators. This institution has played

a vital role in training them.”

Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, Mayor of Mumbai, appreciated the institute’s commitment towards the cause of empowering city leaders by anchoring the Maharashtra Mayors Council.

Other dignitaries present on the occasion included Jairaj Phatak, former Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation; Ashish Deosthali, Sr Deputy Director General, AIILSG; Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General, AIILSG; Dr Sneha Palnitkar, Head of Waste Management Cell, AIILSG; Utkarsha Kavedi, Director, Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies, Mumbai; Rajkishor Modi, Member. Governing Council of AlILSG; and Prakash Wani, Dean, AIILSG.

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

11

BRIEFS

Electric buses to ply on Amravati roads In an environment friendly move, Andhra Pradesh government has decided to introduce electric buses in its proposed Capital Amravati. The government is acquiring four electric buses, of which two are expected to be arriving in next two months. At a meeting held on 29th August, Neerabh Kumar Prasad, Principal Secretary (R&B), and Ajay Jain, Principal Secretary (Energy), reviewed the progress of the project with representative from Axis Mobility Ltd. In the last CII summit that was held in Vishakhapatnam, Axis Mobility signed an MoU with the state government for implementation of the project. It will implement the project as a joint venture with Nedcap, AP Transco, and APSRTC.

MMC introduces face recognition system

Madurai Municipal Corporation introduced a new attendance system with face recognition for sanitation employees. The first system is already installed at ward office in Nethaji Street in zone four of the civic body.

Aneesh Sekhar, Commissioner, of MMC inspected the system on 30th August and found the system is working perfectly fine without any glitches. “The civic body is planning to install this new attendance system in 60 places throughout the city,” said Aneesh Sekhar.

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September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

AQI improves in Delhi, CPCB gears up for winters

NEW DELHI: The data released by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on 27th August showed that Delhi hovered over satisfactory to moderate Air Quality Index (AQI) on 118 days between 1st January, 2018 and 26th August, 2018. This range of AQI was observed in 113 days of 2017 and 74 days in 2016, indicating the air quality improvement in 2018 compared to last two years. Number of days with poor, very poor and severe also decreased in three years-153 in 2016, 125 in 2017 and 120 days till date in 2018.

CPCB officials say that the improvement is the result followed by the measures initiated in 2017 such as Greater Response Action Plan (GRAP), systematic reforms (like the ban on petcoke, furnace oil, permanent closing of Badarpur Thermal Power Plant in October), and the coordination between agencies and National Capital.

The present AQI at different parts of Delhi is better compared to the past.

Different places in Delhi, like Dwarka has AQI 115, RK Puram with Moderate AQI 82, Anand Vihar 151, Mundka 97, Shadipur 157. This betterment could be seen partly due to the monsoon and the improvement measures.

Making efforts to combat pollution and intensify the mitigating measures, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is identifying pollution hotspots in Delhi-NCR. This will help to make the agencies working in those areas aware.

It is drawing quadrant to measure areas

with highest (Particulate Matter) PM 10, and lowest PM 2.5.

CPCB is putting new technologies in places, such as the vacuum cleaner-type, machine sucking particulate matter and release fresh air. Two years after Mumbai got these at the traffic junctions, 54 units will be installed at some busy traffic intersections in the city. CPCB will spend 2.65 crores for installing.

In preparation for the winter months, Wind Argument and Air Purifying Units (WAYU) will be placed at ITO, Anand Vihar, Wazirpur, Shadipur, Bhikaji Cama Place. The filtration units costing 20 lakhs will be placed in 30 buses of the city.

CPCB member-secretary Prashant Gargava said, “We have requested the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the IMD to provide weekly advanced information and alert us of any impending dust storms so that we can put in place measures to minimize exposure. We can intensify action to control our own emissions in that time.”

He added that specific measures have been taken to control the stubble burning like the custom-hire-centre in Punjab and Haryana for the ma-chines to provide proper management of the stubble.

“The focus will be on more machines that will help minimise burning, remote sensing monitoring of where stubble is being burnt and more sensitisation and enforcement,”

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BRIEFS

NEWSCAN

Doorstep delivery for 40 services in Delhi to start from September 10

Coimbatore becomes the first corporation in India to launch monitoring system for SWM

“Doorstep delivery of services” has been rolled out in Delhi.

According to officials, 40 services including caste and income certificates, learners and permanent driving licenses, marriage certificates, ration cards, transfer of ownership of a vehicle, old age and handicap pension scheme, and new water and sewer connections will be provided at door steps. CM called it a revolution in governance, big blow to corruption and super convenience for people.

COIMBATORE: Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) became the first corporation in the country to launch a monitoring system for solid waste management using information and communication technology (ICT).

CCMC commissioner K Vijayakarthikeyan on 27th August launched the mobile app for monitoring of garbage waste collected from households at a training program organized for explaining Swachh Survekshan 2019 guidelines. “The civic body is planning to launch the project within coming weeks. The vehicles which collect the garbage will carry separate bins for dry, organic and inorganic waste and these collecting vehicles will be attached with the RFID tags and sensors which will be linked to the app. The waste collection workers will scan the QR codes placed on different bins and all data will be sent to the app based portal which is open to the public to get a brief idea about the amount of garbage collected,” explained Saravana Kumar, Executive Engineer, CCMC.

SMC seeks Rs 10 crore assistance from Himachal Pradesh government for restoration work

Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC), in general house meeting, passed a resolution on 31st August, 2018 seeking assistance of `10 crore from Himachal Pradesh state government for repairing roads, pathways, retaining walls and other infrastructure that was damaged by the recent rains in 34 wards of the city. For this purpose, the state government already passed `6 crore. Mayor said that MC had finalized the budget estimates and the restoration process has started in all places. The restoration work process has started on 45 sites on roads that comes under MC. House passed the budget estimates for 42 works worth `1.72 crore, 95 works worth `7 crore, and 41 works worth `1.82 crore.

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September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

There are over 500 apartments across the city and the civic body has decided to implement the project initially at 50 apartments. Once the whole system will become fully operational, the civic body will stop collecting waste from the households that fail to segregate the waste. Corporation officials have already informed bulk waste generator in the city added Saravanakumar.

According to the guidelines of Swachh Survekshan 2019, to score higher in the ‘garbage-free city’ ranking minimum five per cent of households should have a composting system at home to turn organic waste into manure said officials.

Supreme Court stays amended Delhi master plan till next hearing NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court bench led by justice MB Lokur ordered the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) that the guidelines virtually implemented the amended Master Plan of Delhi that has been put on hold till the next hearing on the issue. A bench of Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta observed that the SDMC will not implement it and asked Additional Solicitor General ANS Nadkarni to advise the Housing and Urban Affairs ministry not to go ahead with the new regulations. Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar assured the bench that implementation has been stayed by the SC by its earlier orders and matter to come up for next hearing on 28th August. They (SDMC) should be directed not to implement the plan until further hearing. He also drew the judges’ attention to the matter dealing with sealing of unauthorised constructions in Delhi Court asked for an answer from the municipal corporation’s counsel. Advocate Wasim Qadri said he had no instructions on the issue and was unable to reply. On 15th May, the apex court had stopped the Centre from notifying the amended Master Plan of Delhi-2021, while asking the Centre to consider the objections to the proposed amendments and then take a final call after considering all the aspects.

The changes were made to relief shopkeepers and traders from the sealing drive carried out under the supervision of SC appointed monitoring committee.

CITY IMAGES

Shanghai Tower An Architecture Marvel Shanghai Tower, the tallest tower of China, recently won Tien-yow Jeme Civil Engineering Prize of 2018. As many as 30 other projects were also selected in different categories. The tower is designed by the American architectural firm Gensler with Shanghainese architect Jun Xia leading the design team. It showcases one of the best practices in sustainability and a high-performance design. The Tower incorporates numerous green architecture elements and uses 40 per cent less water and 21 per cent less energy. The wind turbines are installed on the top floor and the energy generated is used in exterior lighting and parking areas. The shape of the building is such that make it is optimal for rainwater harvesting. The technologies used in this building lowers the total carbon footprint by 34,000 metric tonnes per day.

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

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Aqua line Metro card can be used in shopping malls

Travellers of Aqua Line connecting Noida and Greater Noida will be able to use their smart cards to pay the fare for city buses, parking fees and even use it as a debit card in the shopping malls. Operation on this route of the Metro is scheduled to begin in November.

Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) will have QR code tickets for a single journey. Plus, there will be an option to enter and exit using a mobile app.

However, the operation of the Metro on the Aqua line will start at Noida’s Sector 71 station and it will be completed at Depot Station in Greater Noida. The route will have 21 stations and cover 29.7 km.

Anti-plastic drive: Trichy Corporation collects Rs 98,000 as fine Trichy City Corporation (TCC) on 27th August in a synchronized penalized drive collected a sum of `98,000 as fine from offenders who were using plastic products. The drive was carried through all four regions under the corporation. 638 kg of banned plastic product which mostly includes the plastic carrying bags that were less than 50 microns in thickness were seized. An official from TCC said, “The drive was conducted for four hours, and shops were charged penalty from `500 to `5000 depending upon the quantity and quality of plastic”.

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September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

Delhi to scrap old diesel vehicles in eco-friendly manner NEW DELHI: The Transport Department of Delhi has issued guidelines on scrapping of old vehicles. Under this, 15 years old petrol and 10 years old diesel vehicles in Delhi can be scraped in an eco-friendly manner at the authorised centers. Under the ‘Delhi Scrapping of Vehicles Rules, 2018’, all seized vehicles, including two-wheelers, will be sent directly to empanelled scrap dealers for disassembling and owners will be paid a scrapping charge, which has not yet been defined. The rules, likely to be implemented by the end of the year, have been framed to execute a 2014 order by the NGT that vehicles older than 15 years should not be authorised to ply on Delhi roads and should not be parked in public

places. If the draft rules are accepted, the impounding of vehicles will start early next year, senior officials said. According to government data, Delhi has over one crore registered vehicles, of which about 37 lakh are older than 15 years.

According to the guidelines, the enforcing agencies such as Traffic Police, MCD, NDMC, Cantt Board, and Transport Department can seize the old vehicles running on the road and send them to the scrapping center. These vehicles will no longer be assigned to the owners.

“Authorised CCTV cameras will record the scrapping process of every vehicle.

Authorities can see live status at the Transparent Department’s control center on a 24x7 basis,” the draft rules state.

Authorised dealer must keep computerised records of scrap vehicles and send it to the Director Transport Department every month.

The dealer will give the scrapping certificate to the vehicle owner. The chassis number of the vehicle should be kept in the cut-off.

Delhi to have HCNG buses, cleaner fueled than CNG buses NEW DELHI: Delhi will get buses fueled with hydrogen enriched CNG (HCNG), which is cleaner fuel than CNG from next year. Delhi government has tied up with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), a public sector undertaking, to induct 50 such buses on trial basis to help study technology and its infrastructure requirements. IOCL has informed the Delhi government that Rajghat depot will be used for trial and work will begin later in September. During this trial, IOCL plans to test the performance of buses and reduction in emissions by mixing 18-20 per cent of hydrogen to CNG in every bus. Last month apex court had directed Union government and IOCL to consider HCNG as alternative fuel option after following a report from Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority. The report said that it could result in reduction of green house gases by as much as 70 per cent. Varsha Joshi, transport commissioner said, “The best thing about HCNG is that it does not require any modification of engine. HCNG will reduce carbon emission by up to 20 per cent in each of the 50 CNG buses”.

SSV Kumar, director of research and development of IOCL said that for converting the existing 5,500 CNG bus fleet in Delhi to this fuel, government will require 400 tonnes of HCNG on daily basis and 48 compact steam methane reforming (SMR) units. He added it will take six month to set up depot and begin trials.

NEWSCAN

Animals are eating garbage because humans create so much of it

Throwing away of drugs may be giving rise to super-bugs, says study NEW DELHI: A team of scientists and research scholar have found high concentration of drugs increasing through the Yamuna’s course. The drugs could come back to us in milk, vegetables, and other agriculture produce. Scientists at All India Institute of Medical Sciences say the disposal of unused drugs in the household garbage is partly responsible for this. This is leading to the rise of superbugs that cannot be killed by most antibiotics. Head of Research Team Dr T Velapandian said “a lot of unused drugs, expired or not, are thrown into dustbins, end up at the landfill, and from there percolate into the local drains and finally end up in Yamuna.”

The study was started by researchers from AIIMS’ ocular pharmacology division in the Yamuna to explain emergence of superbugs in 2015. To conduct the study, water samples were taken from seven places along the river including river’s entry and exit points in the city, 35 bore wells in Delhi and

NCR and the water percolating through waste at the Gazipur landfill. A team headed by Dr T Velpandian, analyzed water samples for 28 drugs, comprising of 24 antibiotic and antifungal drugs, four common painkillers, antihypertensive drugs, and the cough and cold medicine. Their findings have been published in the latest edition of the journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research.

Wazirabad, near the entry point of the river in New Delhi, had 0.05 micrograms per liter concentration of fluconazole (antifungal), ofloxacin (antibiotic) and ibuprofen (painkiller).

One gram or less of these drugs were found in 20 million liters of river water.

Diclofenac (Painkiller) found in double strength of 0.1 micrograms a liter.

At Okhla barrage, near the exit point of river the increase in concentration of fluconazole was 80 times, ofloxacin was 96, and ibuprofen was 50 times.

Dr Velpandian said “Alarming drug concentration near the area

adjacent to Gazipur Landfill was found by the team.” He added that a strict policy for separating and destroying bioactive compounds is needed in highly populated areas to avoid their accumulation in environment. Recommendation was made for monitoring of bioactive compounds in water resources and responsible organisations will create awareness on disposal of unused or expired medicines.

“We recommend continuous monitoring for bioactive compounds in water resources and creating awareness on disposal of unused or expired medicines through responsible organisations” he said.

The co-author of the study L Moksha said that People often throw away medicines assuming them of no use but “they are still active though their potency may have decreased”. He also said that in the developed countries the unused drugs are returned to the pharmacies and further incinerated.

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

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Shenoy Nagar metro station to get 2-level amenities center Commuters of Chennai Metro will be able to get facilities like parking, shopping complexes and eateries near Shenoy Nagar metro station in coming two years as Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) has started the work on the construction of twolevel underground commuter amenities centre. The twolevel underground centre will have a parking space for 1000 two wheelers and 600 four wheelers vehicles, restaurants and a shopping complex. The second level of the centre will be linked to the metro station and the facility will be built at a depth of 8m.

Mechanical street cleaning in Kolkata

New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) has started using mechanical street cleaning machines. As per the officials, the machine has been bought from an Italian Agency.

The machine can clean edges of roads and footpaths, roadside sculptures, street furniture and wipe dust from the lamp posts.

The machine can clean the roads fast and with its advance cleaning technique, it can reach the edges of the roads and the pavement. The machine has the advantage of cleaning the pavements using extended arm.

It has a water jet projected from an outlet which can clean up roadside sculptures, street furniture, etc. from the roads.

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September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

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Centre reviews Swachh Bharat Mission progress in Jammu and Kashmir Srinagar: Secretary of Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation Parameswaran Iyer reviewed the progress of Jammu and Kashmir on Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G) at Srinagar on 21st August. Following a review with Deputy Commissioners of all districts, the State committed to the central team that whole of Jammu and Kashmir will be declared ODF next month. Chief Secretary of the State BVR Subrahmanyam and other senior officials joined the review. The State is preparing to achieve the milestone a full year ahead of the national target of 2nd October, 2019 for a Swachh Bharat.

Iyer emphasised the quality aspects of the Sanitation programme and the need to engage with the community. Earlier in the day, the Secretary called on the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, NN Vohra, and discussed the State’s progress in Sanitation and related issues. The Secretary assured the state of complete support of the Government of India in the next phase of ODF including sustainability and Solid and Liquid Waste Management.

Iyer also visited the aspirational district Kupwara, near the border and reviewed various parameters including the sanitation progress in villages and interacted with villagers. He also visited a major Water Supply plant in Srinagar.

Jammu and Kashmir has shown a phenomenal improvement in its rural sanitation coverage since the launch of the SBM (G). From 22 per cent in October 2014, the rural sanitation coverage in the State today stands at over 98 per cent and the State is close to declaring itself Open Defecation Free. The progress has been even more remarkable in recent months.

Nationally, the sanitation coverage has increased from 39 per cent in 2014 to over 90 per cent today, with over 4.2 lakh villages, 429 districts, and 19 States/UTs already declared ODF.

Creation of new urban spaces needs to be green and resilient: Hardeep S Puri NEW DELHI: Hardeep S Puri, Minister of State (I/C), inaugurated the ‘Van Mahotsav’ celebrated by Delhi Development Authority (DDA) by plantation of around 20,000 trees across Delhi on 5th August. Hardeep S Puri said that creation of new urban spaces needs to be green and resilient and stated that development process in Delhi is now being given a green and sustainable direction by the Ministry. Lt Governor of Delhi, Anil Baijal and Parvesh Sahib Singh, Member of Parliament were also present on the occasion along with senior officers of MoHUA and DDA. Puri reiterated the decision to redevelop the seven GPRA colonies without cutting of trees and assured full commitment and support of the centre for timely completion development projects in Delhi, including Delhi Metro phase 4. Acknowledging DDA’s significant role in building, restoring, maintaining and preserving the natural heritage of the city, Puri said that with 783 parks and sixbiodiversity parks covering an extent of 11,000 acres approximately of land under their jurisdiction, DDA is a major owner of green area in Delhi and has been actively promoting the development of regional parks, city park, district parks, community parks and neighborhood parks as per norms of Master-Plan. He also appreciated DDA’s initiative of taking up large scale plantation.

NEWSCAN

Kerala Flood: Kerala government to ready for cleanup operation Thiruvananthapuram: After facing the tragedy of fierce rain and severe floods, the Kerala government has now started the cleanliness of all the places where flood water has descended. Official sources said that the state government has set up a control room here to coordinate the cleaning process across the state. The responsibility of cleaning has been entrusted to local bodies. Harith Kerala Mission, which works in the field of waste management, organic farming, and water resources management, will also assist in this cleaning process. The mission will set 50 pump sets in different areas of the state. Teams are drawn from different areas, including electricians and plumbers, have also been deployed. 50 thousand self-helpers will help to clean houses and public places filled with slush and debris dumped by the floods. After the water level hasreduced, people have started returning to their homes, but still 13.43 lakh people are living in 3520 relief camps across the southern state. Water Resources Minister Matthew T Thomas said that the Kerala Water Resources Authority has taken steps to provide safe drinking water in the affected areas. He said that during floods, 1089 water supply lines were affected. More than 800 of these have been improved while others will be repaired soon.

Chandigarh gets first all-women e-cab service Chandigarh: A city startup Future Fiacre Pvt Ltd. has launched first of its kind e-cab service in tri-city of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali, as women safety have become a rising concern in the city. The all new cab service has become operational from 15th August, 2018. The all-new service is the first of its kind service wherein dedicated women drivers for women commuters will be present.

The start-up has also offered free rides to women commuters on the launch day. Rajat Luthra, Director Operations, Future Fiacre Pvt Ltd, said: “Our services will not just rely on technology but also provide comfortable travel

to women passengers who will be driven only by women, which will further ensure extra security to them”.

“Women travellers will be able to book a women-only cab using the mobile application. However, to ensure the earnings of women drivers, they will be allowed to pick up couples during daytime till 6 pm in the evening, after which they will be able to pick women passengers only” Luthra added.

The mobile app has been designed in such a manner that women driver only get request from female passengers, which is based on the profile created while registering on the app. If the women driver feel suspicious or find out that a male member has booked the ‘only woman cab’ then driver can cancel the booking anytime. “Future version of app will have SOS feature for extended security for women cab driver as well as the passengers, by just click SOS button an emergency message will be flashed to user or driver’s family and to our control room from where we can intimate about the situation to the police,” said Avinash Sharma, Director Marketing, Future Fiacre Pvt Ltd.

BRIEFS

ITO skywalk to be ready

by October The work of the first skywalk under construction around the busy ITO crossing in central Delhi is likely to be completed next month. The skywalk will be ready for use by Septemberend or early October, Delhi deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia informed. Sisodia said the skywalk would be a “beautiful foot over bridge” and benefit at least 30,000 pedestrians who cross one of Delhi’s busiest intersections every day. The over 600-metre-long skywalk will connect Sikandra Road, Mathura Road, Tilak Marg and Bahadurshah Zafar Marg with Pragati Maidan and ITO Metro stations and the Supreme Court.

Western railway to appoint cleanliness agents to ensure cleaner stations

Western Railway in a bid to make stations look clean, scaling up it cleanliness activity has decided to deploy “Agents of Change” (CA) to ensure cleaner stations, including toilets and concourse area. The pilot project will be implemented at eight important stations–Dadar, Mumbai Central, Churchgate, Andheri, Virar, Bandra Terminus, Vasai Road and Borivli. In a bid to make this cleanliness drive more efficient, WR has introduced a dedicated 24x7 WhatsApp number (90044 99733) where commuters can post pictures of unclean premises of railway stations and report about any illegal activity they witness.

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

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Traffic cops mull over ITMS to deal with traffic

The traffic managers have sent a proposal to the Andhra Pradesh state government for implementation of intelligent traffic management system (ITMS) to decongest city traffic.

ITMS has been successfully implemented in Jaipur, Pune, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. The city has been facing the traffic problem from long time with three national highways passing through it, which is covering around 111 km area in the city.

Apart from national highways, 52 km long stretch of state highway pass through it. This has caused a major vehicular traffic from influx of people from other areas in the city. Nearly 43,700 vehicles from outside are coming to Vijayawada every day causing major traffic problem daily.

Disaster management training for DTC staff 25,000 staff members of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) have been imparted training to deal with disaster preparedness and crisis management. The training program was organised

by DTC in collaboration with Angeli Qwatra Safety Trainings, a Centre for disaster risk and safety.

The training was conducted in the presence of Manoj Kumar, IAS, chairman and managing director of the DTC and Dr Angeli Qwatra, director general of the Centre-Disaster Risk and Safety. The trainees included bus drivers and conductors, who are one of the primary responders to disasters, road accidents and medical situations.

20 September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

Delhi HC rebukes DMRC for not providing free drinking water facility New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) that how DMRC can justify not providing free drinking water to the passengers if metro services in Kochi, Jaipur, Lucknow and other cities are making it available.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice VK Rao asked the DMRC to explain how DMRC will implement it. Whether free drinking water can be provided at a particular place within the station, where all the passengers have access? The court has fixed the date for the next hearing on 12th October. The court sought this information when the DMRC said in an affidavit that the person who felt the urgent need of water at the stations where there is no water ATM can contact the officials. Advocate Kush Sharma on behalf of petitioner Kush Kalra told the court that metro services in other cities give passenger free drinking water but DMRC does not. DMRC told the court that corporation provides information

on metro stations that drinking water is available only in the emergency situation.

The Metro also said that it has installed water ATMs at its stations where water is provided for two rupees per glass. He also said that the passengers are free to carry their drinking water. DMRC had earlier told the High Court that a very small fee is charged for drinking water and toilets at the stations so that the abuse of these facilities can be stopped. The court had earlier this year pulled up the DMRC for not providing free drinking water or toilet facilities to commuters inside the stations, asking whether it had lost “a sense of human problems”.

Government plans to sanction 75 lakh houses before March 2019 under PMAY-U NEW DELHI: 75 lakh houses will get approved under PMAY (Urban) till March 2019. “Construction of around 30 lakh houses is expected to be completed by March next year,” a senior government official said. In 2017-18, the ministry had approved around 26.7 lakh houses, while the target for 2018-19 is around 30.6 lakh houses. Until, since the start of the programme, the government has sanctioned construction of a total of 53.7 lakh houses, and close to 30 lakh dwelling units have already been grounded and are in various stages of execution. More than 8 lakh houses have already been constructed. “Construction takes time…While houses under the beneficiary-led construction take around 18 months to complete, others take around 30-36 months to complete,” the official said. The total housing shortage expected to be addressed through the PMAY-U is around 1 crore. “The government has released `1,424.59 crore under the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) of the PMAY-U) in the current year while `2,481.56 crore was released under the CLSS in the previous financial year”, official said. According to the MoHUA, the Centre has passed an assistance of `78,008.36 crore under the PMAY-U during the last three years and of this amount, `27,653.18 crore has been approved and released. Around `9565 crore has so far been used under the mission in the last three years since the launch of the PMAY-U. The ministry told the committee that the Centre approves the states’ plans and provides assistance to states, UTs, and cities, whose projects are designed, approved and executed by them.

NEWSCAN

NMCG approves `150 crore for cleaning Ganga and its banks NEW DELHI: The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has approved a massive grant of `150 crore project for cleaning Ganga in four states including Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal under Namami Gange programme. These projects include Interception and Diversion (I&D) works where small rivers, rivulets and drains are intercepted before they empty into the main river, and are diverted to Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) so that the water that finally drains into the main river is clean and totally devoid of any pollutants. The projects also include STPs and development of Ghats.

The state-wise details of the projects are as follows:

Uttarakhand

An Interception and Diversion (I&D) project was approved for Rispana & Bindal Rivers in Dehradun at an estimated cost of `60 crores. The wastewater from these rivers ultimately meets Ganga between Haridwar and Rishikesh through river Song.

Once executed, this project will tap 117 drains now carrying untreated wastewater. It is proposed to build a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) with 1 million liter per day (MLD) capacity to treat some of this wastewater while 28 MLD will be treated at the existing STPs.

Uttar Pradesh

The development of Ghats in Mirzapur was approved at an estimated cost of `27.41 crore under the Clean Ganga Fund. The project includes the renovation, extension and widening of the Ghats as well as provision of amenities, landscaping and embankment construction. Further, the project also includes refurbishment of Ram Gaya crematorium and construction of two new crematoriums.

Volunteers participating in activities to clean River Ganga and its ghats

Bihar

West Bengal

The Committee approved a 3.5 MLD capacity Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) and its ancillary works, along with Interception and Diversion (I&D) of sewer lines in Sonepur in Bihar at an estimated cost of `30.92 crore. The Project includes the cost of operations and maintenance (O&M) for 15 years.

Once completed, the STP will treat all the five drains of the city including RN Tagore School Drain, Ward 3-4 boundary, Graveyard ward 18, Meena Bazaar which is presently carrying untreated sewage into the river Mahe which discharges into river Gandak and finally into the Ganga.

The Committee also approved the riverfront development project in Sonepur at an estimated cost of `22.92 crore. This includes construction of a connecting promenade, embankment protection, and provision of amenities as well as landscaping along the Ghats.

In addition, eight Ghats are under construction under the Namami Gange programme at an estimated cost of `20 crores.

The Executive Committee also gave goahead to the renovation of Ghats and Crematoria at Katwa, Kalna, Agradwip and Dainhat in West Bengal. These projects will be taken up under Clean Ganga Fund. The combined cost of these projects is `8.58 crores and includes embankment protection, provision of basic amenities at the Ghats, landscaping, electrical and allied works, renovation of existing structures etc at the various Ghats.

Documentation of Cultural Heritage along River Ganga

The Executive Committee also accorded approval to a proposal to document the cultural heritage of River Ganga from Gaumukh to Gangasagar through Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.

The proposal seeks to develop an appreciation of the river as a cultural stream embedded in the soul of India, by documenting its associated cultural narrative, including features like an annual calendar of events and rituals.

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

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HMDA to set up solar power panels Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) in a bid to save energy is exploring the possibilities of using solar energy at its establishments. B Janardhan Reddy, Commissioner HMDA has directed the electrical wing of HMDA to explore possibilities of setting up the panel on HMDA owned buildings and submit a detailed report of it. HMDA commissioner in a meeting on 27th August directed officials to introduce the e-office system in the organization and make it a paperfree establishment, to ensure transparency in the system.

Use eco-frendly idols for Ganesh Chaturthi

Madurai district administration has laid down new rules for celebrating pollution free Ganesh Chathurthi.

For celebrating pollution free Ganesh Chathurthi, the administration has said that idol maker should use eco-friendly product like clay, yam flour, and sago industry. Idols immersed in the water should be chemical free, if the idols are found harmful permission would be denied for their immersion.

A new rule is laid down by the Madurai district police under which only idols of less than 10 feet height are allowed. Madurai district collector S Natarajan said with the state government taking efforts to restore water bodies, it is responsibility of every person to ensure that they do not pollute the environment.

22 September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEWSCAN

Signature Bridge to be ready by October end The image is for representation purpose only

New Delhi: The Public Works Department (PWD) informed the Delhi High Court that the construction of Signature Bridge would be completed

by October end. During the last hearing in the case; the court had rapped the authorities for “quibbling over” the amount to be paid for the construction of the long overdue Signature Bridge. It had also asked for physical inspection of the bridge by various authorities to take a stock of the progress of the work.

Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice VK Rao’s bench has asked the officials to hand over a status report. The High Court has fixed 14th November for the next hearing of the matter.

The bench said that the case will be heard in the second week of November so that the officers can complete the project and submit a report by the trial.

Advocate of Public Works Department (PWD) told the High Court that the project work will be completed by

October and after this, it will be trialed.

This bridge will connect Delhi to industrial areas of Uttar Pradesh.

According to the government, the bridge got environmental clearance in 2011 and it was to be completed by December 2013. The completion of this project was extended many times.

The Signature Bridge project was approved by the Delhi cabinet in 2007.

However, even after 15 years, the bridge is yet to be completed. The bridge will link Delhi with Uttar Pradesh’s industrial areas such as the Tronica city in Ghaziabad.

In July 2017, the AAP government had released Rs 100 crore for the project and set a new deadline of March 2018, which was further pushed to April 2018, June 2018, and now, to October 2018.

Signature Bridge is expected to share the burden of vehicular traffic being borne by the Wazirabad Bridge, which the PWD stated requires “structural rehabilitation and strengthening”.

Haryana CM launches Gurugram’s ‘Smart’ City bus service GURUGRAM: Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar launched Gurugram’s City Bus Service officially named as Gurugaman, at Sector 10 city bus depot on 2nd September, 2018. A fleet of 25 low-floor, non-AC passenger coaches was launched.

Under the initiative of Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL), 200 more such buses will be inducted by March 2019. 23 buses will be deployed on weekdays and 18 buses on weekends. Buses will be available from Sector 10 bus terminal to Huda City Centre metro station, which is route number 212. The service covers a distance of 25.1 km running in a circle from Basai Chowk to Huda City Centre. The up route will have 51 stops and the down route will have 44 stops. The bus fare will vary from `10 and `30. During the peak hours, the service will run at a frequency of nine minutes and during non-peak hours, the frequency will be 18-minutes. Bus service is expected to help in tackling congestion on roads. GMDA authority claims that induction of CNG buses will help in bringing pollution level down in the city.

NEWSCAN

Don’t phase out solar panel subsidies, Sadiq Khan urges ministers LONDON: Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, has urged the government not to phase out the subsidies for household solar power. He has begun an intense lobbying to keep the subsidies intact.

The London Mayor has made solar one of the key planks of his energy policy, supporting community solar projects and negotiating collective solar installations for homeowners in the capital.

But that approach is threatened by the government’s recent decision to let solar incentives expire next March without a replacement.

Shirley Rodrigues, deputy mayor for London, said she had been very disappointed by the move. “We think the tariffs have been really helpful in increasing the take-up of solar and making it acceptable for people,” she said.

The mayor’s office has written to Claire Perry, the energy minister, urging her to rethink the end of the feed-in tariff (FIT).

Under government plans, householders with solar photovoltaic panels–which convert solar radiation into direct current electricity–will no longer be paid for sending their unused electricity (from the PV system) back to the national grid under the export tariff arrangement. Rodrigues said that was unexpected and unfair.

“At the very least, the export tariff should be kept for two years while we work out an approach that doesn’t result in installations dropping off and losing jobs [as] happened in 2015,” Rodrigues said, referring to losses after government cuts to the FIT three years ago. Londoners would miss out from ministers’ increased policy focus on large-scale, centralised, green energy over small-scale, decentralised, energy sources, such as rooftop solar systems, she added. The decision was contradictory given that the public had

London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has made a plea to the ministers not to phase out solar panel subsidies. he has statrted intense lobbying to keep the subsidies intact. He has made solar energy as his key plank and argues for supporting ccommunity solar projects and collective installations in the capital city

consistently shown that they wanted solar, Rodrigues argued.

At stake is the future of the mayor’s Solar Together project, which oversees auctions where solar installers compete to offer the lowest price to a group of households who have shown an interest in the renewable energy source.

The first round of the scheme cut the cost of installations by 35 per cent on market prices and should lead to 600 homes being fitted with solar equipment by the end of the year.

Without the FIT, payback periods would be so long they could deter people from taking up solar power, Rodrigues said.

London has consistently been the worst region in England for solar installations, a ranking that has not changed under Khan. But Rodrigues

said the pro-solar stance of the mayor, who was elected two years ago, had made an impact. “The pace of change and action is radically improved,” she said.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy said: “This scheme has been hugely successful, outstripping our predictions and generating enough electricity for two million homes. But it’s only right we protect consumers from costs and adjust incentives as costs fall.”

Kate Blagojevic, head of energy at Greenpeace UK, said: “This is another blow to the solar industry from a government that seems determined to kill it off entirely, together with the jobs it provides and all the potential benefits of a 21st century smart grid.”

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

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Urban Blog Urban Blog

Road Accidents In India

I

Dr RK Bharti Principal, AIILSG (Delhi Regional Center)

24 September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

ndian roads are considered the most dangerous road in world annually more than 150,000 people die in road crashes, over 3 million are hospitalised and more than 10 million people get minor injuries. These accidents cause various grades of disabilities. Most of the accident victims belong to the age group of 14-46 years. Most of the victims of road accidents are pedestrians, two-wheeler riders, and cyclists. Road accidents occur due to several reasons. Poor traffic management, poor road conditions and flouting of traffic rules top the chart.

To avoid 60 per cent accidents in India, a new urban policy should be adopted. Israel has adopted a new town planning policy under which movement of people is channelized on busy streets. So nobody unnecessarily comes on highways thus the chances of accidents reduces.

This policy also helps in increasing the speed of vehicles on the highways. We can also think of exclusive roads for two-wheelers and other slow moving vehicles.

In case of accidents hospital and first-aid facilities should be near the highways. Adequate telephone facilities should also be made available on highways. Scientific and engineering method should be used to minimize road accidents. For this better traffic signals, sign board display, clear direction to drivers for their destination. There is also need to make our children aware about traffic

rules so that we can create a future in which road users are responsible.

The implementation of stringent laws against drink and drive is the need of the hour because a large number of accidents are caused by drivers under the influence of alcohol. The recent verdict of the Apex court to ban the sale of liquor on highways is a welcome step. The quality of helmets should be a priority for two-wheelers and the sale and manufacturing of low-quality helmets should be banned.

To prevent these accidents following measures should be adopted by government. Reorientation courses for all heavy vehicle drivers should be conducted at the interval of three years for renewal of driving licenses.

For building safe roads, the government should conduct awareness programs on a regular basis and people should be briefed about the dangers of not following traffic rules. The Good Samaritan Law should come into force effectively so that people do not hesitate in helping accident victims.

[The views expressed are the author’s own. They do not purport to reflect the views of Urban Update.]

NEWSCAN

Businesses pledge climate change action at One Planet Summit Climate change is causing more frequent and severe flooding, droughts, storms and heatwaves as average global temperatures rise to new records. World leaders gathered in New York to try to breathe new life into the Paris global climate accord, amid backsliding from several nations over commitments made in the historic deal NEW YORK: A new investment fund for green businesses and a tool to measure emissions were among the pledges to help governments curb global warming at a summit on climate financing convened by the French president on Wednesday.

Emmanuel Macron called on government and business leaders to invest more in slowing down climate change as he opened the second annual “One Planet” summit in New York.

“We have to shift one third of the global financing to financing of climate change and new climate action,” he said.“So governments, the World Bank, all the development banks, business leaders and investors, it is our job. Everybody is waiting for us and everybody today wants us just to accelerate.”

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, said it would help structure a climate fund for investment in green sectors such as renewable energy and low-carbon transportation across Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

The French and German governments and large philanthropic organisations including The Hewlett Foundation have pledged initial funds to the Climate Finance Partnership, which organisers said would be set up next year. The one-day gathering in New York, where world leaders were gathered for the United Nations General Assembly, drew the leaders of global companies as well as more than two dozen heads of state and government.

The World Bank, which lends to developing countries, announced a

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at the One Planet Summit in New York

platform to pledge $1 billion toward developing battery-storage technology.

Energy storage is becoming increasingly important as production of renewable energy rises, because the wind might not blow or the sun shine during the peak hours when most consumers turns on their lights and appliances.

Tech giant Google announced the launch of a tool to generate data on greenhouse gas emissions from road traffic and on the solar capacity of cities, which it captures through its popular mapping service Google Earth.

“If you cannot measure it you can’t manage it,” said Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor who is now the U.N. Secretary General’s special envoy for Cities and Climate

Change. Cities worldwide account for more than 70 percent of carbon dioxide emissions.

Climate change is causing more frequent and severe flooding, droughts, storms and heatwaves as average global temperatures rise to new records, sea ice melts in the Arctic and sea levels rise. The second “One Planet” summit took place nearly three years after almost 200 governments agreed the Paris accord to end the fossil-fuel era this century and limit further global warming to well below 2 degrees above pre-industrial times. U.S. President Donald Trump weakened the pact last year when he said the United States, the world’s second biggest greenhouse gas polluter after China, would pull out.

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

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Event

UCLG-ASPAC elects its first woman President, inducts new members Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini was elected as the president of United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific (UCLG ASPAC) for 2018-2020 during the 7th UCLG-ASPAC Congress held in Surabaya Surabaya (Indonesia): More than 1200 participants from over 40 countries participated in the grand opening ceremony of UCLG ASPAC Congress 2018 held atDyandra Convention Center in Surabaya, Indonesia between September 12 and 15, 2018. The Congress was hosted by the Surabaya City Govern-ment and jointly organised by United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific (UCLG ASPAC).The in-augural session began with a series of cultural performances, and beating the Gong marked the official commencement of the Congress in the city of Surabaya.

Ignasius Jonan, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM); Vincent Guerend, Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Indonesia and to Brunei Darussalam; Won Hee-ryong, Governor of Jeju, President of UCLGASPAC (2014-2016 & 2016-2018); Tri Rismaharini, Surabaya Mayor; Dr Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, Secretary General of United Cities And Local Governments Asia Pacific (UCLGASPAC); Emilia Saiz, Secretary General, UCLG World, Khoo Teng Chye, Executive Director, Centre for Liviable Cities Singapore; and a host of other dignitaries graced the inaugural ceremony.

Parks Tau,President of UCLG World, and Dato’ Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director, UN Habitat could not attend the event but sent their greetings and best wishes through the recorded video mes-sages.

Ignasius Jonan in his inaugural address spoke on the significance of cooperation between different stakeholders engaged in various areas of urban development.

26 September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Speaking on waste to energy plants and its initiatives in Indonesia, he added that the waste to energy program is mandatory, especially for big cities in Indonesia. Jonan explained that the central government continues to encourage every city or region to become a large and modern city, for that good waste management must be done, one of which is waste to energy, making waste into electricity.

The theme of this year’s Congress was “Innovation-Driven Development for Sustainable Cities”. A se-ries of plenary and technical sessions were also organised during the three-day event. UCLG-ASPAC Congress is a biennial event that brings together key development actors across Asian Pacific

coun-tries.

After handing over the baton to new President of UCLG ASPAC Tri Rismaharini, Won Hee-ryong,the Governor of Jeju Province reiterated, “I will remain the strongest support of friends in Asia Pacific.” In response the newly elected President Tri Rismaharini said that she would extend her support in mak-ing cities livable and happy places to live. Dr Bernadia also congratulated Surabaya Mayor and said that she has transformed the city of Surabaya into a livable city. She expressed that her efforts would in-spire other city leaders and bring positive results for other local governments in Asia Pacific region.

UCLG ASPAC Congress also elected Ranjit Chavan, President of All India

Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) as the Co-President of UCLGASPAC for the 2018-2020 period.Chavan said, “My focus would also involve expanding the reach of UCLG ASPAC in the cities where it has not marked its presence yet. Our efforts will include reaching out to local governments through the in-person ap-proach and also through widening the reach of our various communication media.”Quoting Mother Teressa Chavan reiterated, “None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.” He also committed to keep working towards empowerment of urban local bodies in Asia Pacific.

The Congress offered participants the opportunity to take part in a large number of activities, from the high level sessions highlighting recent urban development and innovations and its applications, to a range of other sessions and activities devoted to discuss the current and potential challenges facing the urban future community. The thematic sessions and social programs of the congress, the variety of topics covered and the external exposure of the event offer participants and exhibitors a

Ranjit Chavan, AIILSG President, was elected the Co-President of UCLG ASPAC. He is flanked by other city leaders from Asia Pacific including the newly elected UCLG ASPAC President Tri Rismaharini

wide range of opportunities to develop cooperation, partnerships and business linkages and to strengthen net-working.

Wall of Innovation

UCLG ASPAC and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific jointly set up a Wall of Innovation at the Congress venue to record the views of the Congress participants on four given themes—Governance and Capacity Development for Resilient Cities, Municipal Fi-nance,Data and Technology for Smart Cities, and Urban and Territorial Planning. Several participants from different countries expressed their views and wrote on the Wall of Innovation. One participant from Thailand wrote, “Municipal Finance decisions and resource all location should be rooted in local needs and challenges. Stakeholders at each level should be engaged and involved when identifying needs. Critical to this process are the youth and adolescent in cities. Innovation in how to engage this constituency is important.” A municipal official from India wrote about the significance of capacity de-velopment and people’s participation in decision making process, “people’s participation in planning, governance should be ensured so that the urban challenges can be managed in a better way.”

Another participant from France wrote and suggested the use of technology for proper waste management, “Use technology and digital

tools to reduce daily material waste for a more environmental friendly lifestyle.”

There were several other innovative and thoughtful ideas which were expressed.

The recommendations from Wall on given themes were discussed in one of the plenary sessions and would also feature in the outcomes of the Congress, local authorities’ statement at the 2019 Asia Pacif-ic Forum on Sustainable Development. These suggestionswill also feed into the 2019 Future of Asia Pacific Cities Report.

Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation

The secretariat of Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation selected 15 cities as the final-ists for this year’s Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation. The selection process by the technical committee members was held in Surabaya, Indonesia at the sideline of the UCLGASPAC Congress. The selected cities would preset their initiatives at the International Conference on Urban Inno-vation, Guangzhou in China; out of which only five cities will be selected by the Jury.

The biennial Guangzhou Award is a collaborative vision among the City of Guangzhou, the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and Metropolis to recognize exemplary models of innovative policies and practices in the local implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda.

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

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COVER STORY E-vehicles

Future of Mobility The steep increase in pollution levels in Indian cities, a significant evolution of technology in e-mobility segment, India’s move towards renewable energy and a host of other factors are impelling all tiers of governments to create a viable ecosystem to promote e-vehicles in India. The nation that does not have a robust infrastructure for e-mobility has begun aligning its priorities in the transport sector to promote the use of e-vehicles

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Abhishek Pandey | Editor

28 September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

ost of the developing countries in the world have already decided to phase out petrol and diesel-run vehicles. As per the recent announcements, Norway aims to do this by 2025, Sweden and Scotland by 2032, France and UK by

2040. The world is shifting focus to electric cars. The Urban Electric Mobility Vehicles Initiative (UEMI) of UN-Habitat also targets to phase out conventionally fueled vehicles and aim at increasing the share of electric vehicles in cities to at least 30% by 2030. Following the global trend and to lower its dependence on crude oil

and reduce pollution levels in cities, the Indian government is also eying to become 100 per cent e-vehicle nation by 2030. Under the National Mission for Electric Mobility, the government targets to achieve 6-7 million sales of hybrid and electric vehicles year on year from 2020 onwards.

However the target seems far from reality as the nation does not have basic infrastructure for e-vehicles and seeing the sheer size and complex demography of the country, there is a lot of work needed to be done.

The electric vehicles industry is growing yet it is at a nascent stage in India. According to the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), electric vehicles account for just 1% of the total vehicle sales at present but it is believed that the industry will grow to more than 5% in few years. Over four lakh electric two-wheelers and a few thousand electric cars are plying on Indian roads. The sale volume of e-vehicles has been fluctuating, depending on the incentives offered by the government.

The government has launched Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles (FAME) in 2015 to popularize the use of e-vehicles.

The Phase-I of the scheme expired in March last year but was extended till September this year. Recently, the government has also announced `5500 cr fund for its second phase. Under the scheme, depending on technology, battery-operated scooters and motorcycles are eligible for incentives ranging between `1,800 to `29,000, while in three-wheelers it is between `3,300 and `61,000. Such incentives would definitely help in boosting the industry. Recently Indian PM Narendra Modi said in Global Mobility Summit that India has a far fewer number of vehicles per capita than other countries which meant it does not have the baggage of other economies that were built on the back of private car ownership. “Our starting point is fresh. We have little of the legacy of resource-blind mobility. This gives us the window of opportunity to create an all-new, seamless mobility eco-

system,” he said. He added that we will soon put in place a stable policy-regime around electric and other alternative fuel vehicles. Policies will be designed as a win-win for all, and enable huge opportunities in the automotive sector.

A business opportunity

With government backing the manufacturing and use of e-vehicles in India, there is a huge opportunity for Indian automakers and battery manufacturers to tap the potential. As internal combustion engine vehicles get replaced by electric vehicles, the demand for batteries will scale exponentially. Battery packs are the energy source for these vehicles. A report Research and Development in Electric Vehicle Technologies by IITDelhi says that the battery pack value consists of the following: materials and chemicals, which account for almost 40% of the value, cell manufacturing which accounts for almost 30% of the value and finally the battery pack assembly which accounts for an additional 30%. India needs to ensure that it is firmly established in the entire value chain of EV battery manufacturing in the coming years.

At present, most of the electric two-wheelers use lead batteries for keeping the cost low while the world has already moved to Lithium-ion batteries; the similar ones which are used in smartphones. These batteries can be charged fast, have comparatively low weight and are cost-effective. These batteries primarily use Lithium, Cobalt, Manganese, Nickel and Graphite. And, most of these natural resources are not available in India in abundance.

If the nation completely depends on the import, it will surely result in high pricing that could dampen the prospect of the success of e-vehicles.

To avoid dependence on imports of these materials in the future, India should focus on recycling used Li-Ion batteries. It is possible to recover up to 95% of Lithium and Cobalt, as well as 93% of Nickel and Manganese and 90% of Graphite. For this, the country will have to develop a feasible technology in battery making and on which many

Indian scientists are already working.

OP Kulkarni, a scientist and National Chairman Renewable Energy Cell, says that in near future the Li-based technology will be phased out and Na based technology will catchup. Sodium-ion batteries would be 50% cheaper in cost; at par with all technical performances, in some case better than Li technology. Sodium being abundantly available in India we need not depend on supply from foreign country resulting into the further possibility of lower costs. The only drawback would be the weight having 10% more but with all other merits the small weight increase can be very easily accommodated in future EV applications.

What future holds for personal mobility

It is also required that the government creates a standardized charging infrastructure and develop battery replacement and recycling mechanism.

This is required to popularize the use of e-vehicles among masses because seeing is believing. People are still apprehensive how far they could go in a single charge and how would they be able to charge their batteries. The answers to these questions are not readily available to the public as of now because of lack of awareness and nonexisting infrastructure. India has been expanding its road network every year and it is imperative now that all the related ministries work in cohesion and have provision for charging docks in the upcoming road network.

Electric cars do seem the future of mobility. From the perspective of car users, these vehicles suit the modern lifestyle in which all of have attuned to plugging in devices. This seems quite possible the internal combustion engine vehicles will soon become a thing of past. Visiting petrol pumps would become an old-fashioned and ‘plug-in and go’ culture will gradually enter into our lives. This indeed will be a major shift in the last 150 years since inter combustion engine came into existence; India should be prepared to be ahead in this game.

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leaderspeak Public transport

What do cities need in Mass Transit systems?

People living in big cities often jostle for space on roads and inside public transport systems in peak hours to reach their workplaces. The same struggle continues in the evenings. To create comfortable ride for urban commuters, governments are accelerating the pace of building metro systems, introducing more buses on roads and taking several innovative initiatives to provide last mile connectivity.Is creating more mobility alternatives a sustainable solution and panacea for mobility problems? Can we create a pleasant commuting experience for citizens?

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ne size does not fit all and this is true when governments address mobility issues of Indian cities. Every city has its own mobility requirements thus needs customized treatment for its traffic problems. Suburban trains could be viable for a city like Mumbai but it is not as popular in any other Indian city. It is not that people do not accept the better alternatives, if available. Of late Delhi has shown the way. People have been largely dependent on three-wheelers and Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses for several decades but now people prefer metro for commuting. The data suggests that over 24 lakh people travel in Delhi metro on a daily basis.

The success of Delhi metro is a learning for many cities. It has raised the bar of urban mobility services.Delhi Metro is clean, well-signposted, tactilefloored, economical, safe, punctual, well-connectedmass rapid transport

30 September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Ranjit S Chavan President, AIILSG

that connects most corners of the National Capital Region, from Vaishali in Ghaziabad to Mujesar in Faridabad.

The metro system has also given attention to the safety and convenience of women passengers. The network of metros is expanding in many cities of India though those projects are in nascent stage or say, metro is operating to a few stations as of now but these could not become as popular as Delhi Metro. The cost factor in small cities and lack of poor connectivity in other big cities could be the reason of lesser ridership.

To decide the best public transport option for a city, let us revisit the definition of Mass Transit. According to Britannica, “Mass transit, also called mass transportation, or public transportation, is the movement of people within urban areas using group travel technologies such as buses and trains. The essential feature of mass transportation is that many people are carried in the same vehicle (e.g., buses)

or collection of attached vehicles (trains). This makes it possible to move people in the same travel corridor with greater efficiency, which can lead to lower costs to carry each person or— because the costs are shared by many people—the opportunity to spend more money to provide better service, or both.”

Evolution of mass transit

With evolving technologies and growth in cities, public transportation systems keep changing. From horse-drawn carriages to rapid metro systems, the transportation systems in cities have undergone humongous change. This is more visible to us when we look at the evolution of transportation systems in growing cities of India. If you look at any small town of India, even today three-wheelers or shared tempos are still predominately used for travelling from one point to another. And as a town grows to a small city, people get buses and readily available taxis. Now

app-based cab service is also available in over 200 cities of the country. Cities keep communicating their needs to governments and it is the responsibility of the government to respond to those needs in time. The problem arises when the response time of the government becomes slow and the mobility issues become too large to handle. This is

what has happened to many Indian cities including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Gurugram and many others because the city could not create adequate mass transport systems to carry increasing commuters in these cities. The response time and the quality of response should be given due priority to address the mobility challenges of the future.

Cities keep communicating their needs to governments and it is the responsibility of the government to respond to those needs in time.

The problem arises when the response time of the government becomes slow and the mobility issues become too large to handle. This is what has happened to many Indian cities including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Gurugram and many others because the city could not create adequate mass transport systems to carry increasing commuters in these cities. The response time and the quality of response should be given due priority to address the mobility challenges of the future

Key elements of mass transit

City managers need to ask the first question:why do people travel in their city? The generic answer to this question is: people travel from point A to point B to go about their daily lives. People commute for work, for attending schools and colleges and for meeting their friends and family and for entertainment. The specific answer to this question can be derived by profiling the potential commuters in a city. People make rational choices when they choose the mode of transport to go about their daily lives. And the main components that impact their decisions include cost of travel, time of travel, convenience, accessibility and comfort. The best mode of transport in a city may differ from one person to another based on his profile and needs.

Different people in a same city could have the above components in different order when they choose the mode of transport.

Mass transit systems also determine the quality of urban life significantly. The cities with poor public transportation system could face limitations to growth. It has become quite clear that cities and means of travel evolve together. Now coming to the main point, what do cities need in mass transit systems? Apart from considering the profiling of travelers and identifying their needs, urban mobility planners must also define the geographic area in which people function for their daily requirements and how much they are ready to pay for the same. Indian cities are working on metro projects but they need to ask: are they ready to pay metro fares? If yes, the government must go ahead else other viable options must be explored.

This also helps in cutting down on the cost of capital infrastructure and operational expenditure.

For example, the cost of running a metro system is significantly higher in comparison to other alternatives.

When cities are facing difficulty in providing basic facilities like sanitation and housing, the budget should be spent judiciously.

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

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Article urban Mobility

Mobility, pollution & possible solutions It’s a well established fact that economic development is directly related to personal mobility. This is true across nations and over decades. As India aspires to become the second largest economy in the world by 2050, it must be prepared for a rapid increase in demand for mobility. The country must prepare itself to meet the challenges, explore tools and opportunities for transforming mobility, propose a flexible framework for a sustainable mobility architecture, and explore its application in the context of a city

Kumar Dhananjay Consulting Editor

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mpirical studies have shown that over the past century per capita income has grown in a nation that has more than half of the population living in urban areas. India is moving rapidly in that direction.

One may hope for uniform spread of prosperity across urban and rural India.

Economists and analysts attribute this to agglomeration economics, boosted by access to a wider range of opportunities.

There are beliefs that people in cities are more productive, innovative, and have higher skills. In other words, apart from increased personal mobility, as India’s economic growth accelerates, we also need to anticipate faster urbanization.

As urbanization intensifies and densification accelerates, there are questions that need to be urgently addressed. How should cities order their urban form? What does that mean for the kind of mobility solutions they need to put in place?

The global picture

There is a symbiotic relationship between urban form and mobility architectures. If we take the example of Los Angeles, the addiction of the people to the automobile has promoted unbridled urban sprawl. It now ranks

32 September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

number one in urban expanse which is eighteen million population spread over 87,000 kilometres. It is also number one in density and length of roads and highways, yet it is burdened with the worst traffic congestion and air quality among large US cities.

In the 21st century, town planners and policy makers have awakened to the reality that while they were supposed to design cities for people, they were actually designing it for cars. If we take the example of Tokyo,

it houses double the population of Los Angeles within less thanone sixth of the area of LA. Singapore and Hong Kong have more compact footprints and a very significant dependence on mass transit mobility. The benefits of mass transit system are immense. In the US, Dallas allocates 40 per cent of urban land area for roads to sustain its cardependence whereas Tokyo allocates a mere 15 per cent of its precious urban land. In India we are hardly doing anything to limit sprawl. We hardly try

to take lessons from global experience.

One such example is the proposal in Bengaluru to sustain sprawl with six new interconnected elevated roadways at a cost of over 15,000 crore.

Economics of mobility

Mobility anywhere is important and the economics of it manifest themselves clearly. Copenhagen with a good mixture of public transport and bike-lanes spends about 7 per cent of regional GDP on mobility, whereas a car-dependent Houston allocates over 17 per cent. Indian cities can ill afford such economic waste and need to concentrate more on public transport by providing zero mile connectivity.If we take the example of Chennai, over the last two decades, it has perversely seen the modal share of public transit system diminish even as car and twowheeler numbers on the road have soared, reflecting neglect of planning and well-targeted transit investments.

A city, even densely populated has lower carbon footprint when it relies on shared or mass transit system. In the United States, New York City has lower per capita carbon emissions, despite higher average income, compared to San Francisco because of its mass transit system and its transportation patterns.

Add to over dependence on private cars, air quality degradation from automotive emissions is a growing menace. WHO

data says 14 of the top 20 most polluted cities (measured by particulates) are in India.

Smokescreens

A detailed emission inventory study is being undertaken currently, led by IITMadras that is likely to shed more light on the matter. As we await the result of that study, one recently undertaken in London has revealed that even with a large fleet of cars complying with advanced Euro-6 emission standards, vehicular sources accounted for 55 per cent of air pollution (PM2.5).

Our cities, including national capital Delhi, have struggled to implement a comprehensive urban mobility policy to address its unhealthy air.

India is a country that is heavily dependent on expensive imported oil to meet its energy demands. It seems that in the foreseeable future it will continue. Therefore we need to guide our mobility architecture by energy efficiency. Reducing dependence on fossil fuels through more efficient mobility will contribute to both environmental and economic gains.

The National Capital Region (NCR) is now home to over 46 million inhabitants. It has raced past Tokyo with its sprawl at 58,300 sq. km, and continues to grow without showing any sign of restraint. There is a need to rethink urban planning

Mobility is key to development and economic activities but we have to ensure and mitigate the many social and environmental impacts of rising motorization. This is obviously important for the future well-being of Indian cities. We need to address the issue of mobility and problem of motorization on an urgent basis

and favour densification and transitoriented development. Transforming urban mobility requires a clear articulation of goals, careful framing of policies, targeted investments, and rigorous implementation backed by enforcement. Our quest to transform urban mobility can be boosted by several new developments.

Comparing China and India

The two emerging economies globally are facing similar problems. Cities in both countries are suffering from severe and worsening transport problems: air pollution, noise, traffic injuries and fatalities, congestion, parking shortages, energy use, and a lack of mobility for the poor. One factor that is crucial to all these, is population growth. Add to it urbanization, suburban sprawl, rising incomes, and skyrocketing motor vehicle ownership and use. There is a need to slowdown in the massive roadway investment in recent years and a shift in emphasis to expanding and improving public transport, cycling, and walking facilities. There is no doubt that there will be an increase in motor vehicle usage and that is inevitable.

There are many options being suggested like we should restrict motor vehicle use in congested city centres and increase taxes, fees, and charges to reflect the enormous social and environmental costs of motor vehicle use. It is also being argued that much stricter regulations should be imposed on manufacturers to produce cleaner, more energy-efficient, quieter, and safer cars, motorcycles, buses, and trucks. Mobility is key to development and economic activities but we have to ensure and mitigate the many social and environmental impacts of rising motorization. This is obviously important for the future well-being of Indian cities. We need to address the issue of mobility and problem of motorization on an urgent basis. This is important not just for creating a mass public transit system, and safety but also to deal with sharp increases in greenhouse gases, accelerating climate change, and rapid depletion of a range of non-renewable resources.

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

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ARTICLE Water transport

Count the ecological costs of the national waterways project The National Waterways project is being pursued citing multiple advantages to humans, mostly to the city dwellers. Agencies including the World Bank consider it to be a cheap and green method of transporting goods. However, if we consider the fact that rivers are ecological entities and that biodiversity dependent on them are at severe stress, the way to look at the impacts of the Waterways project would be completely different

Ranjan K Panda Convenor, Combat Climate Change Network, India

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stimates put it that freight movement by waterways costs almost half than roadways. Comparing that with railways however, the difference is not much. While it takes approximately 2.28 rupees per tonne for a kilometre of road transport on highways, the railways transport costs about 1.41 rupees and that via waterways comes to about 1.19 rupees.

The other advantage claimed is about fuel efficiency. While one litre of fuel can move 24 tonnes by roadways, it can move 85 tonnes by railways and 105 tonnes by the waterways. The fuel, in all these cases is diesel, a big pollutant.

34 September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

A study by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has claimed that Green House Gas (GHG) emissions from transport of goods in waterways is almost half compared to that in roadways. The authority also claims this to be the safest mode of transporting large quantities of chemicals and toxic materials with least danger to the surroundings. The IWAI further claims that it creates less noise pollution and air pollution and helps cities from bearing air and noise pollutions that emanate from surface transport.

The waterways are being promoted to add to the existing extensive road and railway cargo transport network,

and it is estimated that from the current traffic of about 5 million tonnes moving in National Waterways, the project (Integrated National Waterways Grid Connectivi-ty) is estimated to add about 159 million tonnes by the commencement year 2022, if all facilities recommended in the studies are provided. This addition is the divertible traffic. There is however no integrated study that would suggest us if the transport by railways and roadways will give way to that by waterways by then, or it will be further addition. Documents justifying the waterways project suggest that other means of freight transport are saturating. Reality shows otherwise as

the push for road and rail projects are increasing by the day.

Impact on rivers

Indian rivers are highly polluted and stressed, most of them are drying up fast due to faulty development measures and impact of climate change. For the waterways to be successful, we need continuously flowing healthy rivers.

Then comes the case of pollution by the vessels that will be plying on these waterways. Surprisingly, not much has been said about the water pollution and disturbances to riverine species, livelihood of fisher folk and farmers in any of the government reports that are available in the public domain.

According to the IWAI, the country has about 14,500 km of navigable waterways which comprise of rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks, etc.

Currently, only about 55 million tonnes of cargo is being moved annually by Inland Water Transport (IWT) that operates in a few stretches in the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly rivers, the Brahmaputra, the Barak river, the rivers in Goa, the backwaters in Kerala, inland waters in Mumbai and the deltaic regions of the Godavari - Krishna rivers.

Only 0.5 per cent of the country’s freight moves via waterways while it’s 7 per cent in Europe, 8.3 per cent in USA and 8.7 percent in China.

Of all this, most of work seems to have happened so far in the National Waterway No. 1 of 1620 kilometres that covers the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system between Haldia (Sagar) and Allahabad. A major activity in this so far has been to maintain a navigable depth for large cargo vehicles to move. The IWAI informs that during 2013-14, it had been maintaining a Least Available Depth (LAD) of 3.0 meters between Haldia (Sagar) & Farakka (560 km), 2.5 meters in Farakka-Barh (400 km), 2.0 meters in Barh-Ghazipur (290 km) and 1.2 to 1.5 meters in Chunar-Allahabad sector (370 km).

Ganga is already facing multiple challenges to maintain its water and siltation has emerged as a mega problem for the basin. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had in June this year said that the

National Waterways 1 (NW 1) will not succeed unless the siltation problem is tackled. Speaking at the first East India climate change conclave in Patna, he had raised his concern over how a cargo vessel of IWAI had been stuck in the river at RamrekhaGhat as because the river was only 1.10 meter deep continuously for about six months. Dredging is seen as a solution by IWAI as well as agencies involved with it. However, as Nitish Kumar rightly pointed out in the same conclave, dredging is no solution as the river needs continuous flow and not just some water at a particular area if it had to remain clean.

Dredging has environmental issues

According to the World Bank, “Ganga is a seasonal river that swells with the monsoon rains and recedes in the dry winters. Typically, making such a river navigable would call for large scale dredging of the riverbed to attain the depth needed by larger boats, especially for large barges carrying up to 2,000 tonnes of cargo. In the Ganga’s case, special care has been taken to accommodate such vessels while keeping the need for dredging to the minimum”.

In fact, dredging has many other environmental hazards as it will involve heavy machineries to operate in the river constantly. The noise as well as vibrations will disturb the riverine flora and fauna. Fisherfolk will be affected and there will be other forms of environmental challenges and conflicts.

Dredging at one place may affect water retention status in other stretches of the river affecting irrigation and other uses, thereby leading to public discontent and conflicts.

Transport of coal, toxic materials

As can be seen from data shared by the IWAI, the waterways will be used mostly to transport coal and other toxic materials. Trial runs under the NW 1 have been completed for this as this waterways is all set to be modernised with a World Bank loan of $375 million meant for capacity augmentation to

help put in place the infrastructure and services needed to ensure that NW 1 emerges as an efficient transport artery in this important economic region.

The World Bank loan is for modernisation of infrastructure in a stretch of 1360 kilometres inlands to ferry cargo from the eastern seaport of Haldia to Varanasi, and it also talks about taking some measures to reduce damages to ecology, especially because this waterway passes through two aquatic wildlife sanctuaries that fall along this stretch of the river--the Kashi Turtle Sanctuary at Varanasi and the Vikramshila Dolphin Sanctuary at Bhagalpur. However, considering the record of maintaining cleanliness of rivers in India, there are several doubts about this claim. Especially, there are lot of deficiencies that exist in the country with regard to monitoring pollution and other destructions done to ecosystems.

Recently, the Odisha government did not give nod for the sea plane project, proposed by the Centre in Chilika lake considering the negative impacts it will have on the wildlife there. Constant dredging and regular cargo movement of thousands of tonnes will be much more dangerous than that. It needs also be mentioned here that the waterways is to be linked to the cargo movements in the Bay of Bengal. Our oceans are heavily polluted now and there have been several instances of toxic spills and other pollutants from heavy cargo movement.

The Sunderban, a globally significant and very sensitive ecosystem, is already heavily stressed and vulnerable to such activities and recent cases of oil spills from freight movements along these mangroves have outraged international communities. The National Waterways project should therefore consider all ecological impacts seriously and in an integrated manner along with all surface transport activities it has to engage in, and accordingly decide future courses of action. The environmental cost of the project might be too high for the rivers and dependent ecosystems and communities to bear.

[The views expressed are the author’s own. They do not purport to reflect the views of Urban Update.]

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

35

Article Ease of Living

WHERE ARE CITIES HEADING?

Cities cannot just be about infrastructure. The infrastructure has to be for the people and according to a noted urban sociologist Robert Park, “the city is man’s most consistent and on the whole, his most successful attempt to remake the world he lives in more after his heart’s desire. But, if the city is the world which man created, it is the world in which he is henceforth condemned to live. Thus, indirectly, and without any clear sense of the nature of his task, in making the city man has remade himself.”

Tikender Singh Former Deputy Mayor, Shimla

R

ecently the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), New Delhi has released a list of 111 cities, which were ranked in a competition on a new criteria called the ‘ease of living index’ (EoLI). According to the list, Pune tops the cities in the country, which is supposedly easiest to live and of the 111 cities Rampur in UP is the most difficult. Well, this is just for the given number of 111, those which do not figure in the list are worse than the present lot and this means that living a decent life is a serious challenge in such cities! In the top 10 include cities like Navi Mumbai and Mumbai that are at number two and three respectively followed by Tirupati at the fourth position whereas Chandigarh finds itself ranked at five. If one goes at the geographical space of the country 6six cities in the first ten are from the south and just one from the north. Big cities like Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi lag behind in the list.

The World Bank guided data driven methodology for measuring data in the cities and quantifying either by ‘ease of doing business’ phraseology or ‘ease of living’ is in a way top-bottom approach of planning and strategizing the city.

36 September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

The ease of living matrix may sound quite affirmative but unfortunately instead of measuring the livability in the cities is driven more by the agenda of data handling corporates.

The present logic propounded by the ruling establishment that the cities must be competitive and must have a competition amongst themselves is the present neo-liberal paradigm shift in urbanization.

The cities which are screaming for investments find their roles changed and have metamorphosised from just being managers in governance to real entrepreneurs (which is not the role of the city). For that, the land use plans are being changed and the cities are asked to work like a business unit. The SPVs in the smart cities are registered under the companies act and are not answerable to the city governments to ensure that the speed of the projects is enhanced. There is nothing much substantive rather it is an exercise where the secondary data collected from the cities is in contradiction to the ground realities. The data driven index is far away from the real index of the people.

In concise, the way cities are being shaped in the country can be summarized into

♦♦ Privatization of cities–not just governance but land which is seen as a major instrument to attract investment. ♦♦ Cities being governed more through data which is being handled by large companies like IBM, Cisco etc to ensure that the data is utilized for the furtherance of privatization of cities and ♦♦ The utilities and other responsibilities of the cities are either shed to private players or the PPP model of governance is developed.

The matrix of the ‘ease of living’ is in conjunction to the above three requirements. The four pillars on which the entire exercise of EoLI has been based include: Institutional, Social, Economic and Physical.

There are 15 categories in which the cities through their available data have been quantified. These are governance; education; identity and culture; health; safety and security; economy and employment; housing and inclusiveness; public open spaces; mixed land use and compactness; power supply; transportation and mobility; assured water supply; waste water management; solid waste management; reduced pollution.

In the governance model the cities are being developed in a way that a central command and control centre is set up so that such a centre can monitor everything in the city. There is no difference of opinion as to whether such centres should be there or not. Who would not like to have governance where from one office everything gets monitored at a click of the mouse? But the point is who owns these command centres. These centres are developed by mega giant data operators and earn phenomenal profit from the city. The smart city is a classic example of it. The smart city is an urban development plan that uses data points to automate citywide responsibilities such as policing, traffic, and energy. These plans transfer key decisions from local governments to multinational corporations, while privatizing many urban services traditionally governed by municipal officials. Bloomberg reported that the Internet of Things (IoT) represents a $19 trillion opportunity. Forbes estimated that the Smart City industry is expected to become an over 1.5 trillion dollar market by 2020. This new industry signals the privatization and financialization of public service provisions, and will accelerate the growth of inequality in our societies by bringing increased convenience and services to the wealthy few at the cost to the public as a whole. The technocratic Smart City is curtailing individual freedoms and rights and leading us to an Orwellian future. Orwellian future cannot be the ease of living dictum.

Now coming to the actual data and how subjectively it has been read.

We have seen reports from various newspapers where cities are not just ridiculing the EoLI but are screaming and accusing that the data punched is fudged.

Take for example Trivandrum which till 2017 was the best city for two consecutive years. Janagraha; mapping cities under the Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS), developed a matrix of mapping the cities in the country that included; “annual health check up of quality of laws, policies,

institutions and institutional processes underlying quality of life in our cities.”

Trivandrum the best in the country is at 71 rank in the EoLI. Similarly, cities of Chennai and Kochi have expressed shock at the way in which this report has been prepared.

Another glaring fact that has been overlooked is the contemporary condition of slums in the urban areas.

The matrix does not qualify those cities which have shown remarkable progress in addressing some of the important issues in slums. These include the delivery of service utilities like tap water, electricity etc. A census report states that 64 million people live in India’s slums. Over 70 per cent of slum households get their water from a tap, but just half of them get water in their homes. But the efforts in slums do not find a mention in the appraisal.

Take for example a city in North India where irrespective of the fact that the land entitlement is not with the slum holders, but they have been provided with metered water and electricity connections. This has not only eased the life of the people (who earlier either had to fetch from long distance or steal water), but has also reduced the non revenue water. This does not even figure in their (consultants of EoLI) imagination. Similarly, those cities which were unable to provide the data owing to the large number of agencies involved in the city management have got a blank in the scoring. This method is erroneous.

The mountain cities have another complaint regarding the ranking method. For the mountain cities the parameters of the plains cannot be applied. The mountain cities require additional resources to ensure water and manage their solid waste management. One of the important areas of mobility–pedestrianisation and its promotion is also missing in the matrix designed to EoLI. Mobility does not only mean construction of flyovers and widening the roads. This is not inclusive form of mobility.

Let us also closely examine some of the cities that have topped in the different categories and how difficult

it is to believe that what has been reported is true. In the category of identity and culture; Chandigarh gets the highest score of 4.39, whereas the city is newly built and there are cities which are more than 300 years old and have a far richer heritage and culture, but do not quantify high. In the category of governance Navi Mumbai tops with 16.7/25. There will be many cities which are far better governed like Gangtok where the city has not just banned polythene, but non-organic vegetables are not allowed to enter the city and this decision is being enforced strongly. In housing and inclusiveness Ghaziabad is at the top with a score of 2.82. It seems the city that got the best award in social housing i.e., Sholapur with over 10000 houses constructed by the Beedi workers federation is not even considered. There are errors on the face of it whence one goes through the list.

The EoLI is another precursor at the data driven model of city and it is believed that larger the data easier it is to live in. Here I get reminded to the anecdotal dialogue in between a Park Won Son, the Metropolitan Mayor of Seoul and a friend of mine and myself. During a world cities congress in Seoul as both of us were discussing the challenges being faced in our cities; I pointed out at one of them and said that we are in urgent need of opening rehabilitation centres for the youth in our cities because of the menace of drug addiction. Some how Park did not comprehend the word ‘drug’ (though he is good at English) and said “yeah yeah even we are opening de-addiction centers in Seoul.” To my astonishment I enquired but I did not see the young addicted to drugs in South Korea. He laughed and said “oh no-no, not centres of rehabilitation for drug addicts but these high data usage addicts who are getting psychological problems.”

I believe our cities are not following the same path! Ease of living for us as defined by Harvey is also a right to the city to live with dignity!

[The views expressed are the author’s own. They do not purport to reflect the views of Urban Update.]

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

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one on one Sanyukta Bhatia

Corruption is a

challenge even today Corruption is there in entire India but too much corruption is going on in Utter Pradesh. We have to keep a control on it and that money should be used properly Kumar Dhananjay, Consulting Editor

Sanyukta Bhatia, Mayor, Lucknow

After so many years you are the first women to become the mayor of Lucknow. What do you think is the reason that no woman was ever elected to the post earlier?

Women gets very less opportunity and I think if they get more opportunities they can prove themselves better. When I was a candidate for elections press used to ask me being a woman what are you going to do for our state? I used to tell them that how women keeps their home clean and well maintained even if it’s a small or big house, the way they keep it so beautiful, I will also keep my state beautiful, will keep it safe.

What are your priorities? One among them is to keep the state clean which is also a part of government’s Swachh Baharat Abhiyan. Other than this there are so many issues in Lucknow which can be seen when we visit the city and local bodies’ needs to address it. What challenges do you foresee?

Biggest challenge is of cleanliness.

Garbage was not collected from door to door before. I have started it now.

Enchrochmnet is too much there, it’s an issue, water is an issue, water logging is a problem, so many challenges are there, need to work on all of them.

38 September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

As a women mayor, you are in politics, you won the elections. There is a male dominance. Now days a lot is happening to bring it down but so many challenges are still there.

According to you what steps should be taken to remove it completely?

Whenever women got opportunities they have proved themselves better.

Today from the earth to sky women have excelled in every opportunities they got I am a women and I want to do something better, something new.

OK! Lets talk about the local bodies, they have very important role, whether it’s the government Policy’s or to percolate the money till the ground level or benefits given to the people so what do think about the role of local bodies in it?

They have a very important role. If money is coming then the money should be used properly and for the purpose its coming it should be used for it only.

Corruption is there in entire India but too much corruption is going on in Uttar Pradesh. We have to keep a control on it and that money should be used properly.

Corruption is a big issue.

It is a big issue and it’s still there. It’s

been only four months since I became a mayor. It’s a big state and we have 110 wards in it. There were so many staffs in wards but very few used to show up and used to get fully paid. They were not getting salary for three months, from five months they were not getting their pensions because the work was not done as much they were taking as their salary so in order to bring them on the correct path we started using biometric attendance.

Talking in broader terms about the sustainable development and its goal.

Urbanization is happening we cannot stop it and because of it people are migrating from villages to cities which are broadening the issues more. You cannot stop them from coming so in order to achieve the sustainable goals what will be the challenges?

People from entire India come to Lucknow and we cannot prevent them from coming so we have to give them all the facilities and every one should get it equally. Water problem is increasing day by day because of the increase in the population even the issues with the roads are also there due to which encroachment is increasing and we need to work on it.

one on one Vimla sharma

Vimla Ji, first of all share with us about your political journey. As a woman how challenging was it for you to reach this position and what all problems you had to face?

I was basically in education. My subject was political science. I have worked enough for women and I am linked with many NGOs. Considering all this I moved to politics from education.

Since two and a half year I am at this position. In this duration we faced many challenges and solved many of them. I would like to say that after coming into politics and at this post of mayor or the post of chairman is not anything small. I would say “Nar seva, Narayan seva”, this post is to serve, either humans, animals or birds.

It is linked with serving. This was an important turn of my life. After this I became the chairman.

What was that moment, you mentioned you completed double masters in political science, double masters in history, what was that moment when you decided to shift from education to politics field?

I never thought before that I would join this political field but because I was teaching political science and I studied that mayor post of women is an opportunity. It came to my mind that I can do something in this field for public and society. With these thoughts I entered into politics and won with the support of majority. There are 45 ward, 45 councilors, their support helped me to reach here. I would like to thank them and the public of Sawai Madhopur for electing me.

In this duration of two and a half years what all changes were you able to make successfully and what are those things where you could bring change?

In this management post if there is even a miner mistake so we cannot be successful. There are four main links that include councilors, public, MPs, MLAs and the officers. We have to work with the cooperation of these four, only then we can be successful, because we are not directly elected. Elected councilors elect the chairman.

Challenges must be met at all costs Since two and a half years I am at this position. In this duration we faced many challenges and solved many of them. I would like to say that after coming into politics and this post of mayor or the post of chairman is not anything small Kumar Dhananjay, Consulting Editor

Vimla Sharma, Mayor, Jodhpur

Tell me what all problems do you face? Suppose you want the city to be clean but to implement the abhiyaan you need money, man force, people to execute and the support is needed.

To meet these requirements what all problems do you have to face?

It is managing the limited resources to complete the public work. Manpower is less in ULBs; economic resources are limited. In ULBs mostly funding has to be raised from there itself, apply tax there and get it from there. At local level there are protests but we have to take people in trust and work with them. I would like to add that India can actually be seen cleaner than before.

My city is at world tourism level. Many foreign tourists visit Sawai Madhopur.

They shouldn’t get the message that Sawai Madhopur is not clean so we have specially made a team that collect waste door to door, collecting wet and dry waste separately and dump it at the dumping stations. They play slogan motivating people to throw waste in the vehicle. With time to time we motivate students in schools. They need it most to make children habitual, because work can’t be done by force.

It should become habitual. I mostly focus on women and children. Being connected with education I frequently visit in schools and motivate them.

Now children eating toffees keep the wrapper in pockets. I feel good that my city is changing and becoming cleaner.

Everyone is supporting me for it.

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

39

Travelogue Paris

Love, Life AND Light Paris a Moveable Feast Team Urban Update

40 September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

History is what describes Paris. Add to it fashion, lifestyle, lights and last but not the least romance that defines Paris. As the adage goes ‘love is in the air’, travelers and revelers all throng the city for the kiss that would last lifelong. Undoubtedly and rightfully it’s called a city of love. The moment you put your foot on the city you fall in love with this place

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

41

T

he city was founded around 3rd century BC by the Gauls also known as Parisii. There are many theories about the history of the city, but the interesting one is that in 52 BC Julius Caesar conquered the region and established the Roman city, Lutetia on the existing settlement.

In the second century AD Christianity made its advent and the domination of Romans ended in the 5th century with the arrival of Franks. Clovis I established Paris as the capital of the kingdom in 508. Though it’s difficult to cut short the history that too of Paris, but the city experienced great prosperity in middle ages. In the 12th century, construction started on cathedral of Notre Dame, Sorbonne opened its door in 1253 and swampy area of Marais was drained to become the area now called Right Bank. Saint Chapelle was completed in 1248. It was also tumultuous times for Paris. Hundred year war broke out in 14th century between Capetians of France and Norman England that led to defeat of France and English rule was established over Paris. In the mid fifteenth century finally Joan of Arc reconquered and took Paris away from

British rule. But that was not the end of war. Paris witnessed and experienced 16th century full of wars, the battle between Catholics and Huguenots resulted in the death of more than three thousand people in the name of religion. Peace returned but was short lived. Towards the end of 17th century Louis XIV was crowned. In 1789, Parisians revolted that led to the famous fall of Bastille and triggered French revolution. This attracted huge repression from the regime and it became a reign of terror in which more than seventeen thousand people were guillotined. It was then Napoleon Bonaparte took over as Consul for life to provide stability. In 1804, he was crowned as Emperor of France by the Pope and ruled till 1815 till his defeat at Waterloo, Belgium. After the fall of Napoleon, a coup d’etat brought Napoleon III to power who ruled for seventeen years. It was in this period that major city projects were envisaged, planned and implemented.

Wide boulevards were constructed that changed the appearance of Paris.

The city suffered a massive setback under the Nazi occupation in 1940s.

At the end of war, Paris reconquered

its role as promoter of innovation and encouraged strong liberal movement.

Strong political movements, a historical legacy of the city continues.

Fifth republic, as we know France today, has witnessed many political movements such as student revolt of 1968 and many similar events that have shaped it.

City literati

Paris has been home to many renowned figures of the literary world not only born in France but also numerous expatriates who fell in love with the city and made it a subject matter of writing.

The city can boast the names of several novelists, poets and play writers like Moliere, Voltaire, Balzac, Victor Hugo and Zola. The expatriate writers who made it their home include the name of Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Henry James, Milan Kundera. It is also interesting that very few of the writers of Paris were actually born there. They all got attracted to the city because of its University and also that it was a major centre of publishing industry that included newspapers and journals. The literary life of the city centred on the left bank post second world war because there was a huge concentration of book stores. Writers like Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir held court here in the numerous cafes. Sartre was the most prominent writer of this period and was founder of the school of existentialism.

He was also a novelist, playwright and theatre director. Beauvoir, a lifelong companion of Sartre was another important literary figure of the time and early proponent of feminism.

This list would be incomplete without mentioning the name Albert Camus, who died young but has great works to his name.

Escape from the heat

The city during summers is full of tourists who try to escape from the scorching heat back home. With the temperature hovering around twenty degrees, the city offers a cool environment. The city is one of the favorite destinations for travelers and

42 September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Paris has been home to many renowned figures of the literary world not only born in France but also numerous expatriates who fell in love with the city and made it a subject matter of writing. The city can boast the names of several novelists, poets and play writers like Moliere, Voltaire, Balzac, Victor Hugo and Zola has something to offer everyone. This mesmerizing city will not let you down and fulfill all your expectations. The city is well connected by rail and air from various destinations across the world. High speed Euro rail connects the city from various locations across Europe. In case you are travelling from London to Paris by train, you traverse through the Channel Tunnel, which is owned and operated separately

by Eurotunnel. Once you step in to the city you need to chalk out your itinerary carefully because you have to pack in so much. The places you would like to visit, the food you would like to relish, the markets you would like to shop at. Champs de Elysees could be your first stop if you are an avid shopper. It has all the high end restaurants, flagship stores of top notch brands such as Louis Vuitton and Prada. It is located at the corner of Arc de Triomphe, the famous monument.

In the perfect windy weather a few hours of walk here will fill you with greed and you would love to spend a few extra hours here. Paris that you have heard of will come true in front of your eyes.

‘City of Lights’

The city is aptly called ‘City of lights’.

You got to see Paris at its best once the sun shine fades and lights are on. You

get on top of the summit at Eiffel Tower then and see the breath taking view of the city. It’s an unbelievable experience.

You feel on top of the world standing over this mammoth three hundred twenty meters tower. One can see the whole city in all its shining glory and the exceedingly huge number of couples around you, reminds you why Paris is called the City of love. The tower gets a new coat of paint every seven years and it takes a year to get the job done. Simultaneously a night cruise from one of the nearby ports will add fun to your trip. A night cruise in the river Seine is a life time experience.

It’s difficult to describe the experience, you can just feel it. While cruising you go through these incredible structures of various bridges lit with these yellow lights, cool breeze literally sweeps you away to another world altogether.

Places of interest

Well, it’s said that no matter how much time you spend in Paris, it’s going to be less. But even on a short duration trip one would like to visit: Les Tuileries, Dôme des Invalides, La Défense, Montmartre, SacréCœur, Place du Tertre, Place des Abbesses, Montparnasse, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Quartier Latin. And the three triumphal arches that fit each other like Matroshkas: Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Arc de Triomphe, La Grande Arche. A long walk in Monmartre is worth it. You start from Sacre Coeur, a visual treat with historical significance go all the way to Moulin de Rouge. On the way you find a lot of painters waiting to make a portrait of yours under loud carnival music. The walk to Moulin Rouge from Monmartre is a long one.

In between you find lots of souvenir shops, sex shops, night clubs and joints.

At the end of it you find Moulin Rouge that happens only at night. If you are interested in museums, sculptures and paintings it’s going to take you months to see them all.. obviously even if you are short on time you would not give a miss to Mona Lisa at Louvre museum.

A visit to Disneyland willremind you of your childhood days. The car stunt show is a must and so are the rides in

the park. You might have to spend a few hours in the queue as they are long and serpentine. But every penny and wait is worth it.

Wining and dining

This is a place which feasts all the time. From breakfast to supper it’s elaborate, tasty and sour if you are a wine lover. One gets up in the morning heads straight to a Creperie where you relish ham and cheese and Nutella crepes. Crepe originated in Britanny, located in northwest of France, but its consumption is widespread across the country, almost a national dish now. If you want to compare it to a dish in your city what comes close to it is African Injera, Indian Dosa and the Mexican Sope. Crepes are often prepared with mixed berries, fresh fruits or lemon cream. Roadside cafes offer you a good meal and depending upon the weight of your wallet you can choose a place for your diner.

Modern times

The city described as ‘City of Love’ has come under attack in recent times.

Stadium, concert hall, cafes have all been attacked and hundreds have been killed. The city has been attacked at least six times in the last three years.

Nevertheless, the undying spirit of the city has refused to be cowed down.

The Bataclan concert hall reopened with a concert of rocker Sting. In the audience, the majority were the victims at Bataclan. Bars and restaurants that came under attack were back to life and all signs of violence were gone. Take a stroll around the city today and you will find it difficult to notice any change in the attitude of the city and its life post these attacks.

You will find laughter all around, sounds of cheers and no conversation about what the city has gone through.

Scars may be deep, but Parisians find a way out to live the life as they want and offer the same to all the visitors who come to explore this city. You talk to a Parisian and he/she will tell you that we are attacked because ‘we love life’. The only answer to these attacks is ‘joie de vivre’, the joy of life.

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

43

BOOK REVIEW GOOD READS

Let rivers give us life!

There is an expression used in the book which otherwise aptly describes the Kerala tragedy that has killed many and rendered thousands of people homeless as flash floods ravaged the tiny coastal state of India. It says: “ India is killing the Ganges and the Ganges is killing India.” Does that also apply to most of India’s other rivers, such as those in Kerala which were inundated and claimed many lives?

Abhilash Khandekar | Sr Journalist

N

o urban civilisation narrative would be complete without detailed mention of rivers. Indus Valley civilisation is one of the prominent and ancient examples of how cities came up along the mighty rivers several centuries ago and the trend continued.

In fact, the two ancient cities of India, namely Harappa and Mohenjo-daro

(both are now in Pakistan) are cited for being the most well planned cities of those era when town planning was perhaps not known the way we know it now. The town planning of these two cities is of course a separate theme in itself that readers of this magazine should be interested in.

Well, when I was reading and watching on TV the terrible reports of the worst ever Kerala floods and

Book River of Life, River of Death Author Victor Mallet Publisher Oxford Pages 316 Price ` 550/Recommendation Buy it for personal library

44 September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Good

Reads

devastation wrought by rivers in spate, I recalled a recent book by Victor Mallet, a foreign journalist who has extensively written about India’s national river, Ganga. It had created ripples in the literary and environment circles when it was launched earlier this year.

There is an expression used in the book which otherwise aptly describes the Kerala tragedy that has killed many and rendered thousands of people homeless as flash floods ravaged the tiny coastal state of India. It says: “India is killing the Ganges and the Ganges is killing India. “Does that also apply to most of India’s other rivers, such as those in Kerala which were inundated and claimed many lives? My response would be in the affirmative. Yes, we are killing our rivers and they would kill us in times to come. Ganga is not flowing from Kerala but the world saw the state suffered unendingly due to the tampering with nature--mainly its forests and rivers!

The book under review deals with many rivers and their histories and when it comes to Indus the author quotes Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then prime minister, who inaugurated Kumbh Mela on the Ganga banks in the year 2000 and described Indus as “a unifying symbol of 5,000 years of Indian civilisation”. Indus is a version

of Sindhu, the Sanskrit word for a large river and it is the river that gave name to Hindustan and to Hindus, and so to India and Indians, says Mallet as he progressively tells us the story of a river.

Talking of holy Ganga, he writes in this 18-chapter well researched book that the Ganges still plays a central role in Hindu rituals of birth, marriage, and death and has done this since third century AD. Farmers in Bihar still put Ganges water in a pot in their fields to ensure a good harvest, and among those who live along the river ‘a newly married woman unfolds her sari to Ganga and prays for children and long life for her husband’. So that is the importance of this river in the eyes of a foreigner who has travelled the entire length of the river and has spoken to a large number of local people from different states, be it a farmer or a dolphin researcher. He has experienced and witnessed the unflinching faith people have in this river.

“There are countless versions of the myths and stories about Ganga, as there are about the millions of other members of the pantheon. She is goddess and a mother to everyone from PM Narendra Modi to the humblest Hindu living in the far south of India or running a motel in the United States”, he writes.

Quoting a Harvard scholar Diana Eck, the author says: “There are few things on which Hindu India speaks with one voice as clearly as it does on Ganga Mata.”

The author must be complimented for the amount of research he has done to do this kind of an authoritative book on Ganga, covering its several facets. It is not that there have not been books written on this national river but this one is special as it deals with almost all possible aspects of the mighty river, from its birth many many million years ago in the Himalayas to the legends that are innumerable, to the massive exercise every 14 years of holding Kumbha in the make-shift tents and hosting hundreds of thousands of people along Ganga at Allahabad, to the story of Varanasi to the wildlife and depleting forests besides the pollution the river is facing from urban dwellers

and factories. He refers to Mahabharata, the Sanskrit epic, as also to Ramayana to tell the readers that Ganga continued to be an important part of the Hindu psyche all through the history.

In an account which is quite gripping, the former Asia bureau chief of the influential daily Financial Times tells you many things about the river that you probably knew but in far more interesting manner and after digging out facts and meeting a large number of a cross section of people.

In the chapter on Varanasi, the 5000-year old city near Ganga, Mallet observes that Varanasi is the cultural heart of India and of Hinduism and, it is said, the world’s oldest city. Varanasi’s combination of spiritual significance and physical squalor has inspired and appalled visitors for centuries. The author travelled in a boat in the river to look at the rising sun at around 5 am (during Modi’s nomination) and saw the ghats and all life there--swimming, praying, washing, chanting, eating, burning the dead.

Mallet refers frequently to Ms Eck, a Sanskrit scholar and biographer of the city to tell us the linkages between the oldest city and oldest river in a highly interesting manner. There is also a detailed description of how and why Modi chose to go to Varanasi to contest his first Lok Sabha election and how he vowed to save Ganga having commented in his blog earlier that “The condition of Ganga in several parts of UP is pitiable, we can’t let this go on anymore”. True to his word, Modi, after becoming the Prime Minister, created a separate ministry of Ganga rejuvenation and gave an initial budgetary sanction of `20,000 for cleaning it.

Clearly, the job is mammoth and complex and after finding that Uma Bharti could not do much as the in charge Cabinet minister was expected to do, she was shifted out of the ministry in 2017 reshuffle.

“In July 2016, Uma Bharti, the minister responsible for water and the Ganges, said 300 of the 1000 projects envisaged for Namami Gange-including some for beautification of ghats and the afforestation of river

banks--had already been launched and the first impacts would be visible within three months”, writes Mallet at one place, covering a bit of political angle attached to the river and its cleaning campaign.

In short, this book appears to be dealing with the river per se. But weaves extensively many related and relevant topics into its pages such as politics, environment, wildlife, forests, pollution, religious beliefs, problems of Varanasi weavers, history of the cities along the course, dams and controversies associated with them, electricity production, health hazards in India, especially after consuming Ganga’s highly polluted water (mention of the experience of Dr Atul Gawande, an Indian-American surgeon and writer is hilarious). The book also refers to its tributaries such as Yamuna at length, and others like Shipra, Chambal, Hooghly, Koshi, Ramganga, Son, Gomti, Gandak in passing.

The tragedy of the holy river has been described in one line by the author towards the end, like this: “The pure water melted from the glacier at Gaumukh has by this point been subjected to all the follies and wonders of India”.

In the chapter Mission Impossible?

How to clean Ganges, he outlines all the challenges in which he has narrated stories how Rhine was saved from pollution way back in 1953 when many countries came together to form International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR).

What we have seen in the past few years since Modi came to power is that they give some hopes of the Ganga being rejuvenated. Will it? Or Will it not? Is the question the author also leaves unanswered. He just borrows a remark from the local sage Swami Chidanand Saraswati who says: “the journey (of Ganga) is from filth to faith...”

[The author is a senior journalist who writes on politics, environment and urbanisation. He may be contacted at kabhilash@gmail.com & Tiwtter @Abhikhandekar1

www.urbanupdate.in | September 2018

45

Urban Agenda Road Safety

Making road safety a priority More than 1.3 million people died in preventable road crashes and another 5.3 million were left disabled for life in the last decade in India. This is an alarming sign for any country and the problem needs an urgent fix

I

ndia accounts for a significant number of road fatalities. The road safety issue in Indian cities is becoming a critical topic of discussion. The good news is the government is taking a serious note of this and has already taken a number of policy initiatives.

I recently came across a survey conducted by Save Life Foundation on different aspects of road safety in Indian cities which said almost 80 per cent people feel unsafe while crossing the road. The other findings of the survey suggested that 59 per cent did not give a test to get a driving license and over 40 per cent people do not wear helmets while riding twowheelers and over 60 per cent fourwheeler passengers do not wear seat belts. All the issues raised in the survey are of serious nature and need urgent attention. Most of us know that getting a driving license in many parts of India is easy and in most of the cases, people need not give a test. People from small and medium-sized cities will readily agree with this observation. At the ground level, local officials need to focus on strict implementation of

46 September 2018 | www.urbanupdate.in

Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor, Urban Update

norms for making our roads safer.

Another alarming news is that most of the small cars running on Indian roads do not perform well on safety standards. Global New Car Assessment Programme (GNCAP), a UK-based non-profit organisation that conducts crash safety tests on cars across the world, has rated Indian cars poorly.

However, the Union government has stepped up its initiative to ensure safety of road users.

The Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is making several strides in road safety with awareness programs and new policy initiatives. It has started running several advertising and capacity building programs for road users and traffic operators to improve road safety measures in India.

Based on the globally accepted multi-pronged strategy and the safesystem approach for improving road safety, the National Road Safety Policy outlines the initiatives to be taken by the Government at all levels.

As per the Policy, the Government will provide assistance to local bodies, Union Territories and States to improve the quality of crash

investigation and of data collection, transmission and analysis. A National Road Safety Information System will be established for providing continuity and policy guidelines to this activity. It also says, “The Government will take steps to ensure that safety features are built in at the stage of design, manufacture, usage, operation and maintenance of both motorized and non-motorized vehicles in line with international standards and practices in order to minimize adverse safety and environmental effects of vehicle operation on road users (including pedestrians and bicyclists) and infrastructure.�

Recently, the Ministry announced that all new cars launched in India starting October 2018 will have to comply with the mandatory pedestrian safety features. The government has also mandated to have electronic stability programs and autonomous emergency braking mandatory by 2022 across all segments of vehicles to bring in road-safety at par with international standards. Now it is to be seen how bureaucracy responds to these noble initiatives.

Quality is just one of our strengths

AIILSG has begun skill development programmes in Rajasthan and Jharkhand. The institute with its 90 years of experience in the field of capacity building would impart training to youth living in rural areas of these two states to make them employable in various emerging sectorsApparel, Beauty & Wellness, Electronics, Healthcare, IT-ITEs, and Renewable Energy.

As per Mou singed, AIILSG will train 16,000 youngsters.

AIILSG is committed to build empowered India with skilled human workforce For Details, email at delhi @aiilsg.org

All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) whole heartedly supports Swachh Bharat Mission and is committed to play a proactive role to realise its objectives.

The institute is organising regular orientation workshops on SBM to augment the capacity of ULBs and also generating public awareness on cleanliness

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