Development or Destruction of Cities: Increasing Tragedies

The death of 3 students in a coaching institute in Delhi due to water logging in basement area has created an uproar in the entire country. This is a matter of serious concern and is also a warning of even more terrible tragedies in the future. Since these deaths happened in Delhi, everyone's attention was drawn and discussions on the reasons have also started. But the reality is that due to unplanned, haphazard development of cities, many people die every day and their voices are unheard. In view of the rapidly increasing urbanisation, increasing urban population and limited facilities in its proportion, life is being lived amidst dangers. If seen in its entirety, the so-called urban development is moving towards a dark path with emptiness, the consequences of which are borne by the common people both directly and indirectly.

The meaning of urban development has limited to building construction, road construction, gardens or plantation in the name of environment or beautification so that tourists can be attracted. This development happening in a disguised form is not giving peace to the residents anywhere. In fact, they are also equal partners in this destructive exercise because due to inner greed, disobeying the rules and laws gives them a feeling of pride. At the core of any concept of development, the provision and construction of basic facilities is the first step, but in the present times, first the buildings are constructed, then the work of developing basic amenities is done. As a result, the said facilities are unable to bear the expected load. Water, electricity, sewage and garbage disposal, roads and environment are essential elements in basic needs, without which life becomes almost impossible. But the priority of all developers is residential or commercial construction because revenue is linked to it. Unfortunately, all these components are implemented in isolation and the urban bodies responsible for coordination are taking escape from all the responsibilities by simply outsourcing. Awareness about the rights given by the Constitution is increasing with the improvement in the educational level, but the majority of the people are still indifferent to their duties.

The recent tragedy that happened in Delhi shakes us to introspect. The center operator has been arrested as the accused of the incident, who is guilty only of the haphazard construction or irregularity of that particular center, but all those responsible people are roaming freely to put all the blame on the center operator, under whose guidance and supervision, who knows how many such constructions have been done and are being done against the rules, to stop which they are getting salary from the direct or indirect tax paid by the common people. Even to compensate for the fault of those salaried people, efforts are being made to provide financial assistance at the state level. If there is a small financial irregularity, the accounting worker and his supervisor are blamed, but they roam around carefree where so many deaths are taking place because of people sitting with their eyes closed. Don't they ever feel guilty of being responsible for such human murders?

In the prima facie report of this incident, the main reason for waterlogging in the basement has been found to be the lack of drainage system. This is the biggest deformity of the so-called urban development. In simple words, it is just like consuming all the things that increase obesity without any physical exercise and healthy lifestyle, from the physical point of view, it obstructs the veins and as a result bypass surgery has to be done. Similarly, drains are required to flow dirty or stormwater of the cities as the veins of the city but over time, drains went into the background in almost all the cities and the system of water flow was ruined. In this defect, the roads being made of cement concrete have acted as icing on the cake. Firstly, due to being built after the construction work, there is danger from their pointed edges and then due to the lack of drainage system, water makes its way wherever it finds space. Perhaps this is what happened in the Delhi accident. In the past too, the main reason for floods in cities has been the lack of drainage system. Water, when does not find a naturally determined path, it makes its way wherever it finds space by eroding with speed and this is what has happened in most of the incidents. Water and especially rainwater have high erosion capacity along with speed, hence there is a need to construct suitable drains in a systematic manner for their drainage. An innovative example of this is the integrated implementation of road construction by the urban administration of Thane, Kalyan, Nagpur around year 2000, in which arrangements for drainage and collection of rainwater were made as per the requirement, as a result the road remained intact for a long period.

The disappearance of drains or drainage shows the laxity of urban planning and administration. Even after the Delhi incident, the entire administration got busy in searching coaching and libraries? to make the scapegoat while the fundamental reason is the lack of drainage. Learning from this, city planners should responsibly focus on developing basic facilities before settlement so that such tragedies do not recur. Also, urban administration should work on priority to repair or establish drainage system. This will also help in curbing future wastage.