Today, the CII organised a seminar at the Palladium Lounge on Urban Designing and Town Planning where Ms Florence Bougnoux, French Town Planner, Mr. Fabrice Etienne Consul General of France in Kolkata and others were present. I referred to Ms Bougnnaux's conversation with me on Friday at New Town when she said that pedestrian subways and over-bridges across wide roads were unsuitable for children and old people and so the vehicular traffic could go up / down leaving pedestrians to cross roads at surface level. I referred to the flyover in New Town between Axis Mall and Home Town on either side. This flyover was not built over a river or rail but merely allowed the pedestrians to move across the plaza. But I agreed that the concept needed to be recognised and implemented as a policy.
We agreed that a workshop with French professionals would be useful. Here is a photo:
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| Saugat Mukherji, Fabrice Etienne, me & F. Bougnouxx |
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Earlier in the day, Mr Scott Furssedonn-Wood , British Deputy High Commissioner met me at Hidco Bhavan. We talked at length on possible areas of co-operation in the field of Urban Development. I highlighted the International Financial Hb being built up in New Town where we'd like British Financial Institutions to come. Here is a photo:
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| Rishikesh Chanda, Scott Furssedonn-Wood, me |
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Here is a cutting from today's Telegraph Metro:
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The flyover between axis mall and hometown is over a roadway that is not used by a lot of pedestrians - it should have been much longer .. covering the intersections at new town "temporary" bus terminus and novotel / akankha / pride-hotel. I have noticed a large number of pedestrians crossing the MAR at these junctions and it is particularly unsafe at night, with lack of traffic police signal enforcement and speeding traffic. Please consider building pedestrian over-bridges / underpasses at these junctions as well - I guess it is too late / not feasible to extend the flyover to cover these junctions. As long as pedestrian bridges have working escalators / elevators / gradual ramps, it should not be an issue for the elderly / disabled.
ReplyDeleteA humble suggestion regarding the greenery in Eco Park -
ReplyDeleteWe do have an excellent green zone coming up in this huge area, but when i see the lake side, its only lined with Palm trees. Now, palm trees are not suitable for either shade or a perching place for birds. Birds love to perch on huge shady trees near water bodies. I would love to request planting trees like "Sirish" (this tree alone has made Bangalore/Mysore a canopied city) not only on the banks of water bodies, but also in strategic places in entire New Town (where we only find trees of sparse foliage making it look too concrety). One Sirish can easily cover the size of the Akanksha island. My request would be to advise the planters to go for shady trees to reduce the heat and help both humans, animals and birds to make New Town their home.
Once again, we are really impressed with the Eco park initiative - lets make it one of its kind in India.