Building a great Vizag

This article appeared in The Times of India today. The original (and unedited) word document is also pasted below because its easier to read.

Building a great Vizag

Sohan Hatangadi

Now that all the hullabaloo surrounding the separation and the elections are behind us let us get down to some really important business. First we must face the reality; Vizag will not be the capital of the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh. I hate that “residuary” word, sounds like something the doctor prescribes for poor bowel movement. Many Vizagites will be sorely disappointed. And some wanting to avoid capital punishment will be secretly relieved.

No need to be capital to be a great city

You do not have to be the administrative capital of the state or country to be recognized as a great city. Delhi may be capital but Mumbai has got more moolah muscle. Washington DC may be the capital of the USA but San Francisco and New York win the popularity contest hands down. Canberra is the capital of Australia but Sydney has the oomph. So stop mooning about not being the capital and let us roll up our sleeves and get to work on building a really great city. But hold on … what is a really great city? The answer is somewhat complicated and depends on who you are asking.

The benchmark story from Egypt

Now, sit back and take a sip of your coffee, I have to tell you a little story. More than 2,500 years ago, in a strange and cruel experiment aimed at tracking down the world’s first language, an Egyptian Pharaoh, Psamtik I, who believed that without anyone to copy, children would instinctively talk the world’s original language. He arranged for two babies to be kept in isolation for two years under the care of a shepherd family who were given the task of looking after the babies but were prohibited from speaking in their presence. The experiment didn’t prove anything because the children learnt to bleat like sheep which they often heard grazing nearby. So what’s my point you ask? The point is that unless we have seen and experienced better cities, our benchmark will always be the miserable overcrowded, garbage filled, ugly, chaotic cities that surround us.

Are we satisfied too easily?

Admit it; we Indians are divided - satisfied and unsatisfied. Now don’t start assuming anything crazy. I am talking about those who don’t know their elbow from a great city. The lucky folk who are satisfied with what little we get from our city builders. A mall in Maddalipalem with air-conditioning and escalators! A new smelly park on the beach with a giant baby in diapers! “Gee whiz and wow, what a great city we live in! It must be world class”. Unfortunately the majority of our population falls in this “satisfied with crap” category and therefore we will never get anything better. Those who have travelled, who have experienced “world class”, those who have seen better, who know better and who want better are doomed to be disappointed. Why, they ask are we condemned to live in such third class cities? Why can’t we live like our brothers and sisters in Vancouver, Seattle, Paris or Sydney? Or even in eastern cities like Singapore or Hong Kong? Just because we are born Indians why should we suffer the terrible Indian cities?

Vizag going downhill

This brings us to our beloved Vizag. The city is going downhill like an old RTC bus with no brakes descending from Kailasgiri. It is over populated, over industrialized, over polluted, over loaded with traffic and over exploited. It is bursting at its seams and in a constant state of chaos. The only decent part of town – our beach road is packed to capacity. There is complete absence of public sanitation facility. Thousands urinate and defecate in the open everywhere. Look outside your window now and you will spot a few on the job. Every gedda is encroached upon and choked with plastic waste. Our sewage system, serves only 30% of the population. Garbage overflows from municipal dustbins. Dogs rule the roads. Great old trees are being chopped down every day and Vizag is acknowledged as one of the most polluted cities in the country. So what do we do? Is the situation hopeless? Not really … read on.

My top 26 plus 1 wish list

In recent months many pundits have made wish lists for Vizag. They mainly talked of industry, PCPIR, Railway Zones, 24 hours airport and commerce. A few talked of agriculture and fisheries and farm produce. (The farm lobby can’t compete with the industrial lobby for clout.) Those wishes are all important. In addition here is my Top 26 (plus 1) wish list to make Vizag a really great city.

1.      Clean air, we want to breathe good quality clean air free of coal dust

2.      Adequate drinking, cooking, bathing and washing water for every citizen

3.      A scientific waste management system, our city must always be healthy and clean

4.      Clean beaches and clean seas – our marine life is vanishing faster than it can be replenished

5.      Hundreds of parks with large shady trees, revived water bodies, green lung space

6.      Stadiums, play grounds, swimming pools, cycling tracks to keep our citizens healthy

7.      Kalyan Mandapams, halls for performing arts, artist’s village, museums

8.      Special super clean areas around religious spots, for God’s sake clean up Simachalam!

9.      Traditional handicrafts zones and market

10.   A road system built with common sense. Currently Vizag roads are designed by an evil genius for inflicting chaos on the population

11.   All cables to go underground, I am sure JNNURM can help make this happen

12.   Seamless public transportation system – including air conditioned buses like in Bengaluru,

13.   Every road within the city must have pavements, a true “pedestrian is king” policy

14.   Easy access to markets with affordable produce, government space for public markets

15.   Commercial shopping hubs with adequate parking and space to relax

16.   Business districts with office blocks to make business seamless

17.   A strong broad band enabled city with internet hotspots in every commercial area

18.   Easy access to educational facilities for all, children should be able to go to school safely. Government schools with toilets for students and teachers

19.   Well stocked public libraries with internet available to all

20.   Affordable medical facilities in every locality

21.   A city that cares for its challenged citizens every building and public space must be sensitive to the old, the infirm and the physically challenged

22.   Public toilets - thousands of them

23.   A police force that keeps us secure and enforces orderly traffic

24.   A responsive local administration that respect citizen’s needs

25.   A healthy respect for our heritage – our old buildings, our natural assets, our traditional culture

26.   We cannot make a great city without good citizens. So we will need a powerful educational programme to mould better Vizagites, those who not only know their rights but also their responsibilities towards the city.

The 27^th wish - great leadership

Making Vizag a great city is a challenging task and we need a great leader to handle this assignment. We cannot work with the temporary administrators who have limited tenures in Vizag. We need an inspired general-like leader who will lead the project for a decade or more. We need a tough visionary, an architect, an artist, an engineer a humanist and a smart administrator. We need a La Corbusier, a Lutyen, a Visvesvaraya, a George Eugene Haussmann. (Look them up on the internet) This is easier said than done. Will our new political leaders have the will to make radical changes? It depends on us. Let us not just bleat like goats but demand like lions. Roar!