SIMPLE CITIES ?
These days there is a lot of excitement re Central
Government plan to convert 100 existing cities into " Smart Cities "
.
List is out but surprisingly , cities which did not
make to this list , are not protesting at being left out !
How come ?
I presume , citizens of these left out cities are
thinking :
" Oh , sure , it would be nice to have fully
solar powered city , having 6 lane boulevards , flanked by gleaming office
towers , city-wide free Wi-Fi , covered gutters with automated garbage chutes
from each flat , only self driven electric cars ( like the one , Shri Modi rode
in Madsar City ) , escalators everywhere , 24 hour supply of water that you can
drink straight out of the tap ,.......etc etc "
But then they look around and say :
" No , no ! We don't want a Smart City
Just give us a Simple City
A city where ,
* Roads may be only 2 lane wide but
without potholes
* Footpaths are only 3 feet wide but free
of hawkers
* No garbage-chutes in every flat but
neither garbage dumps on streets
* No electric cars but neither smoke
belching diesel / kerosene rickshaws
* No drinkable water from tap but neither
water full of dirt / dung / germs
* No high rise residential towers but nor
sprawling slums with open drains
* No solar power but certainly garbage
generated power / bio-fuel
* No zipping metros but neither endless
traffic jams
* No city-wide free Wi-Fi but nor bundles
of cables hanging from poles
* No swanky office blocks but Sulabh
Sauchalayas on every corner
* No escalators everywhere but plenty of
overhead bridges on roads
* No fancy shopping malls but
hawkers only in hawking zones
* No sprawling golf courses but
playgrounds for kids on every street
* OK if no IIM but several Industrial
Training Institutes ( ITI ) in my city
* Instead of 5 star hospitals , let there
be many public health centers "
Citizens are saying :
To convert 100 cities into " Smart Cities ",
will take years and cost lakhs of crores of Rupees , where a 500 sq ft flat
will sell for Rs 5 crores !
To transform 900 cities into " Simple Cities
", can be done in months and cost , a few crores each - and I don't
need to uproot my family / find a job
Let us get our priorities right !
I hope the Ministers / Municipal Corporators / Town
Planners are listening !
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hemen parekh
03 Sept 2015
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