Sunday, July 1, 2012

Densification of Cities : 14th July 2012

Yesterday, I handed over to Mr Sudhir Krishna, Secretary MoUD, GoI, the invitation card of our Seminar "Densification of Cities" : he will be the keynote speaker. Here is the card kit:
Densification of Cities:
National Conference on 14th July 2012 at Swissotel, Kolkata
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I often wonder how news of closed-door meetings reach the media. Anyway, here is a clipping from today's Bartaman:

9 comments:

  1. Kagojer Kaaj Kagoj Koreche Khabor Khujei Pai.......
    Inter-exchange of commuters between existing and East-West metro at Sector V and Esplanade is a great idea - hope The Esplanade one also goes through.

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  2. I visited Rajarhat yesterday after 6 months.

    My feelings:
    1. Landscaping work in and around HIDCO Bhavan looks really nice.
    2. Hawkers have arrived near Unitech IT Park.
    3. Dust is there....perhaps mechanized cleaning regularly will help.
    4. Tribal statue is awesome.
    5. PWD road from Hatishala to Bhojerhat is pathetic....too pathetic. We need to get this repaired. Sir, any plans of widening the road?
    6. Road beside Kestopur Canal, in front of Sanjeeva bunglows and Aquatica is also in a pathetic shape.

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    Replies
    1. Hawker is going to arrive everywhere as long as they have political patronage and a paralyzed administration.

      I myself witnessed a hawker (a boy of thirties) one day opened a tea shop in front of our office. Within couple of days he expanded to his right providing some more service (lassi, masala cold-drinks and all). He brought his brother (8-9 years) to assist him. We asked how much he studied? He answered, well he was studying but left school to join business here.

      Wah! Great. And why not? Our govt is backing them, encouraging them to flee school, remain illiterate and become a prospective hawker. How else the political parties will get manpower to organize political michhils? No wonder our social-values are deteriorating every passing day and we are competing hard against Bihar! And the irony is, those who have the will don't have the power to change and even if they have the power they are tied to bring about any change by our political dadas.

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  3. Why can s/he sell? Why does s/he buy?

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    Replies
    1. Sir, if you are expecting that the mass ( here the residents and the people working in New Town) to stop buying from hawkers, this, I would say is a wrong expectation. You cannot expect mass to enforce such self-discipline. You need to enforce laws. I will give you an example of an ASIAN city and not of any US or European city. The city I am talking about is Singapore. I think you know how laws are enforced there.

      One simple request. Lets do a census of current hawkers and lets enforce a simple thing that not a single new hawker will be allowed to set up shop in New Town.

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    2. Absolutely. I second you! If we don't restrict the new hawkers to set up new hops, all the efforts of making new town a iconic city/beautification or whatever, everything will go in vain.

      And we need to start it somewhere down the line, isn't it? So why wait? A strict law should be in place that what is there is there. But no more, please.

      If it goes on our Kolkata sky view will be covered by Hawker tarpaulins completely, in near future. Everyone would think about ourselves selfishly on top of cheap vote-bank politics and all.

      Mass can only be controlled by strict law and hefty fine.
      Sob baap-baap bole kotha sune cholbe.

      Some days before I read somewhere that spitting will attract fine, but again, it went into oblivion, as expected.

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  4. Dear Sir,

    I am a regular reader of your blog and I like it very much. I have 2 requests for your king attention:
    1. Thakdari main road beside Kestopur Canal connecting SE-MAR, few villages [Dholipara, Thakurdari, Hatgechia and Saltlake MB block] till Sanjeevatown duplex/Ideal Villas] is in a pathetic condition. Need immediate attention for repair. A number of schools are also connected by this road.
    2. Need for a bus route from Aquatica park through Newtown or so. Existing bus route AS-4 [I believe] running from Greenfield apartments to Kolkata station can be extended to this point. This will help thousands of residents/villagers from 2 Villages [Kochpukur and Hatgechia].
    Kindly look into these.

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  5. Its an honour n privilege to hear from you. The idea of installing Blue Pavers was really innovative and justifying to the current theme. I am myself supplying in bulk Yellow & Off White coloured Pavers to different circles, footpaths of New Town through various contractors under Hidco. Any further improvisations you arise with, you can kindly let me know.
    Sudip Sarkar
    Anjali Flooring Co.
    www.anjaliflooring.net
    +91 9830701828

    ReplyDelete