VIZAG matters - Sohan Hatangadi's Blog

The only city that doesn't have a visible sign showing the turn to the airport. Is that because we are a smart city?

Everyone wants"beach tourism". Yet there is no way we can protect our beaches from trash. This year the UNWTO theme worldwide was "Sustainable Tourism - a tool for development". Yet despite so many reminders to our tourism department that this was an important time to work on sustainability, there was complete disinterest from officials and from the industry. We went about doing the usual masala song and dance events on our beaches. Any responsible tourism department interested in the long term sustainable development of the industry would have seized the opportunity to prepare a strong policy on cleaning up and maintaining our tourist spots including those inland and in our ghats. Now we are "developing" Yerada and other spots asking our beach. GOD HELP US!

The ugly face of Tenneti Park.   All these Styrofoam  plates will long outlive  several of our coming  generations. Styrofoam lasts 500 years, and even after it has dissolved it's chemical traces will clog our ecosystem.    This is what happens with "beach tourism". Great to talk about it  but after it is set up it is no one's baby!

We go to our beaches for relaxation and some peace.  But now days, every day, we are confronted with more cacophony and chaos there. Our beaches are destination for myriad events. Variety programs,  food festivals, musical shows, marathons,  flash dances, protests, rallies, parties, awareness drives, and  hundreds of other events. Ahaa! We get an idea  and head straight for the beach to show it off to the world! Every alternate day there is some noisy program on the beach road as if there is no other place anywhere in Vizag.  Every week we are impacted terribly by the mikes, sounds,  crawling traffic and increased pollution.  Every program results in tons of extra garbage which has to be cleared.  Please remember that we are paying the taxes which GVMC uses to clean the beach road every day.  I can appreciate that some program like NAVY DAY must be celebrated only on the beach but certainly not every miscellaneo...

There is no doubt that a vibrant filming industry not only generates welcome revenue but - if  the context of the film is right - it shows the city in favourable light making it an attractive destination. For example "Lord of the rings" NEW ZEALAND, "Game of thrones" CROATIA  or "When Harry met Sejal" in PRAGUE, AMSTERDAM,  VIENNA to name a few. Switzerland has got a thriving filming industry popularizing it's towns such as ENGELBERG. However in every such place the rules for shooting films are well defined and stringent. Especially rules against polluting the locations. In the India this is not the case. When travelling in Aru Valley Kashmir in 2015 we saw thousands of Styrofoam plates strewn in green grasslands by a film crew shooting a Hindi film. Closer to home in Anjoda on the outskirts of Araku, after every shoot, the beautiful wooded forests are full of plastic packets, plates and plastic cups. Outdoor film shoots are a mess. In Vizag...

Despite being among the first to enter the Smart City race Vizag is one of the lowest spenders so far. Talk and action are miles apart. To read more, catch up the below link on business world Smart Cities: The Sad State Of Affairs