Vuda version 3: Is bigger really better?

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VUDA Version 3, is bigger better?

VUDA version 3

Sohan Hatangadi

Appeared on 23 Aug 2015

You may have heard that the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) is soon to become Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Development Authority (VMDA). Somehow the word “Vuda” had a nice ring to it. It sounded much like that wonderful snack, with a hole in the middle and a loyal partner of the humble idly. How easily “Vuda” rolled off the tongue. Now we have to deal with this completely unpronounceable word VMDA! Try pronouncing that word … “vamda, vumda, vmda” … gosh, there is no easy way to say it; we must get accustomed to say it alphabet wise “Vee, Em, Dee, Ay”.

Genesis

VUDA started out as the “Town Planning Trust” way back in 1962. Vizagites perceived it as a benevolent organization with the objective of planned development and housing and infrastructure in Vizag. Old timers remember that the TPT had a fair reputation for developing new areas and building reasonably priced housing targeted at different section of buyers termed as “Low Income Group (LIG), Middle Income Group (MIG) and High Income Group (HIG) housing. Many remember the new layouts with rows upon rows of new homes that came up in areas such as Seethamadhara and TPT colony.

Expansion

Then in 1978 TPT morphed into VUDA. Its territory expanded to cover the three municipal towns of Visakhapatnam, Bheemunipatnam and Anakapalle and around 216 villages of Vizag, Bheemili, S-Kota and Elamanchali talukas. It then covered an area of 508 square km.  The objective was to secure and develop these areas as a part of a master plan. They were to acquire lands from the owners, develop the lands with roads, buildings, water supply and sewerage and then sell the lands and buildings at an affordable price to the public. In addition to acquiring private and government lands surrounding the then small city of Vizag, VUDA went about acquiring 14,000 acres of lands in around 70 villages near Vizag.

Impact on agriculture

In the early 1980s, in the eyes of the public, VUDA started acquiring a sinister character. It started targeting farm lands and used its statuary powers to do some arm twisting and take over large tracts of farm lands around Vizag for “development”. Vizag was surrounded by rich productive farm lands which was an easy target for VUDA. For example in the early 80s notices went out to farmers in Endada to acquire 104 acres of lush agricultural land where paddy, vegetables and plantains were being cultivated. When VUDA started buying land the rates started going up. Farmers stopped developing land for agriculture. Fresh produce had to come from further away pushing the prices up.

Un-real estate

In the eyes of many, VUDA over the next two and half decade changed from an organization that was made to benefit the citizens of Vizag and became more like a real estate agency. Using hype and auction they managed to push up land prices around Vizag to stratospheric levels. Every time the government was short of funds, which was quite frequently, they would sell off some land and raise money. VUDA had to be in business not for the people of Vizag but to pay its own salary bills and meet its own overheads.

Jiggery-pokery

With strong regulatory authority VUDA became quite powerful. With immense power comes enormous jiggery-pokery. During the decade starting with 2001 senior persons at VUDA were up to tricks which eventually led to a case of criminal conspiracy and cheating being registered by the CID against the then local boss of VUDA and 11 others over alleged attempts to allot government land earmarked for a community centre to private persons in violation of Supreme Court orders. Any logical Vizagite would know that this case is perhaps only the tip of the iceberg. VUDA has a poor record of implementing coastal zone regulations and has been asked by the High Court to demolish around 300 illegal structures that are in violation of CRZ laws. For several years during their darkest and most powerful days almost every interaction between the urban body and the public seeking approvals would involve some dubious dealings.

Show us the results

With VUDA calling the development shots for the last 40 years one would expect that every town and village under its jurisdiction would be a shining example of development. As citizens we would like to believe that under its benevolent care we would see villages with nice houses for all, well laid out infrastructure in every small town with sports fields, parks and gardens, plenty of water and a good sewerage system. But the fact is that there has hardly been any change in almost four decades and the villages are a horrible mess to this day.  VUDA introduces schemes such as Layout Regularization Scheme (LRS) and collects fees for “development” but this development is only in theory, none of these regularized layouts have benefited from coughing up development money to VUDA.

Hello, hello, anyone there?

While VUDA has a few good developments to show they also have dozens of projects that are incomplete for ages. Every project suffers from cost overruns. No one knows why these projects were taken up, who asked for it, who will benefit from it and whether something else was more important. The tax paying public never has a say in the matter. In February this year VUDA put out ads in the newspapers asking for suggestions from the public on how to improve amenities in places such as VUDA Park, Kailasgiri, Thotlakonda and Teneti Park. Vizag’s public responded enthusiastically but though six months has elapsed VUDA has neither acknowledged nor had the opportunity to talk to any member of the public about it. For the general public VUDA is surrounded by a solid impenetrable wall with barbed wire fence on top.

Public involvement

All over the world today, development is best served when the local community is involved in decisions to develop their area. The government plays a role of a facilitator bridging the needs of diverse communities. But this is not true for VUDA. The constitution of the VUDA board comprises secretaries to the AP government, a couple of managing directors, district collectors, and commissioner of GVMC. Not a soul from the tax paying public is a member of this exclusive club. There is no doubt that these officials are intelligent and understand the nuances of city development but one would expect that in a democratic setup the voice of a common man would also be heard either before or during a board meeting. The tragedy in our country is that the public is not credited with having the brains to choose how we wish to develop.

What’s in a name?

VUDA is now going to become VMDA and will be responsible for an even larger territory. The Chairman of this heavy weight organization will be none other than our CM himself.  This structure envisages the advantage of rapid decision making. The problem is that decision making – good or bad - has never been an issue in our country; powerful people can fire off decisions like machine gun bullets sending bureaucrats scurrying and field workers confused. The problem has always been local on-the-ground implementation.

Is bigger really better?

History has taught us that even great empires have collapsed because they got spread too thin as they expanded. Even large private corporations understand the art of decentralization, local management and corporate federalism. Common sense should indicate that a number of smaller nimbler organizations with good citizen support will work best but those calling the shots think otherwise. There is a fear that TPT’s third avatar - VMDA will become even more impenetrable to the public, more expensive to run, more top-heavy and more unmanageable in its new form. Evolution of life went from a few cells, to small creatures, to dinosaurs, but then we all know what happened to those gargantuan creatures.