Can govt provide infrastructure before furthering growth in Alibag?
Architect Pinakin Patel makes an urgent plea for planned growth in Alibag, which would provide commerce without compromising culture, growth without affecting ecology, and progress that can be enjoyed by residents and visitors alike
MUMBAI: I had voted for the present government to become my voice, fought on its behalf over divided family dinners and with colleagues. Now, I have a peeve with the government – it has decided to take the vision of the Honorable Prime Minister forward to build a strong nation; but is it doing so meaningfully?
Can we build a strong nation meaningfully at all while being in a state of chaotic expansion and internal power play? If mere material well-being becomes a permanent target with little or no ideology then we may head to a state of mindlessness.
I represent the voices of my community members in Alibag, the ‘Alibag Optimists’ and ‘Team Vidysan’. Alibag was a scenic hamlet growing one villa at a time, until recently. Now it is being engulfed as a suburb of Mumbai. Here are my views on what I feel is an impending unplanned development in Alibag, which I hope will resonate with you:
Every metropolis absorbs rural peripheries into urban development but can one consider a planned absorption where infrastructure comes before commercial growth?
Private townships have their own legalities and advantages but can the already existing areas outside their boundaries be treated first?
MMRDA says that our area between Mandwa Jetty and Alibag town is too small for them to micromanage as they plan regionally. The panchayats are too small and ineffective in the wake of sudden unplanned growth.
Alibag residents’ appeal to the government is that the village be treated as a pilot project for the integration of peripheral areas around towns and cities to be merged into mainstream urban spaces. As commercial growth takes place faster than infrastructural provisions, it creates chaos. Within the chaos, certain people take advantage and create a sense of despair amongst the rest.
In such a scenario, is standing for election the only way to add value to a community? No. The way a jury aids a judge to take decisions, we can have creative thinkers in society to enable bureaucrats to take holistic decisions.
Let’s presume urbanization and vertical housing are here to stay, and Alibag must become a part of Mumbai. There must be a hundred Alibags waiting to be engulfed. We need to address this in a way where infrastructural planning, environmental issues, green architecture, sensitive zoning and concern for AQI during massive construction projects etc are addressed simultaneously as a planned exercise.
The recent sale-purchase of properties in Alibag generated about ₹3900 crores in stamp duty. In this area everyone is used to buying tanker water to even construct projects and later of course for actual use. Electricity has to come from private generators and inverter batteries. The national highway runs across as a high street with encroachments on both sides of the road; and earth moving equipment, water tankers and material supply trucks contribute to heavy traffic. This increases exponentially on weekends when tourists still arrive in search of the rural beauty of Alibag.
The urban development plan for Alibag will soon come from a tender that the government will float, and the companies that apply for it will do their best to create a popular plan for winning the contract. One day will be reserved for the public’s response. Instead, why can’t local groups participate in the first draft of the land?
I hope those in government use their good sense, rather than their ambition, to treat life with a little more respect. As a late entrant into the already ruined western growth models, India must create a model of its own that lets ideology provide existence rather than the other way around.
(Pinakin Patel is an architect, designer and thinker, who lives a green life in Alibag since 25 years.)
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