Urban Dialogues – Reimaging Bhopal is an initiative of All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG). The conference focused on future plans of the government of Madhya Pradesh to make Bhopal city smarter and initiatives taken by the authorities to improve basic services for the citizens. Jaivardhan Singh, Minister of Urban Development and Housing, was present as the chief guest at the occasion. The conference brought together Minister of Law and Public Relations, Municipal Commissioner, Additional CEO of Bhopal Smart City, Bhopal Citizen Forum officials, city experts, and other intelligentsia on a single platform to discuss and put forward their points of view on various topics such as Smart City Bhopal, Preservation of the natural environment of the lake city, Involvement of citizens in smart city initiatives, and solutions to various urban issues that Bhopal is facing.
Urban Dialogues – Reimagining Bhopal was divided into four sessions namely Inaugural Session, Session 1, Session 2, and Valedictory Session. Session 1 was themed as Bhopal Smart City and Session 2 threw light on aspects of infrastructure, mobility, and environment for building a sustainable Bhopal.
Rajiv Agarwal, Director General, AIILSG, in his welcome address talked about implementation of smart initiatives in the city which Bhopal has implemented in a very effective manner. Also, he discussed about the transformation of the city under Smart City Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission. Further, discussing about the role of AIILSG he mentioned about the functioning of the institute and various courses it offers. He talked about the capacity building program that AIILSG conducts for training various elected representatives and municipal officials to help improve the quality of civic services delivered to the citizens. Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General of AIILSG made a presentation on the functioning of AIILSG. He talked about courses that AIILSG offers in fields of urban management, municipal administration, sanitation, municipal finance, and other areas of city administration. He detailed the various efforts that AIILSG is putting in for better development of cities in India, be it preparing mater plans for some of them, organising training programs for the city officials, conference like Urban Dialogues, and much more.
Abhilash Khandekar, a renowned senior journalist, talked about development of Bhopal city as a smart city. He opened his arguments saying that the development process of Bhopal is being done in a haphazard manner. Even after implementation of a few smart initiatives, the growth and development is not visible. Khandekar raised various concerns like presence of urban complex in the city which can be seen among the people of Old Bhopal and New Bhopal. He further emphasized on the need for preservation of the major attraction of Bhopal city which are its lakes. Conservation of green cover, water bodies and other natural environment present in and around the city should be the pivotal point while creating and finalizing the Master Plan of Bhopal city, he added. Khandekar also touched upon the aspect of public art in the city and said that there should be proper policies designed for such initiatives. There is need to raise awareness among the common citizens and also to add to the beauty of the city.
B Vijay Datta, Municipal Commissioner of Bhopal, was present as the special guest on the occasion. He began his address by talking about the achievements of Bhopal city as he mentioned – Bhopal was ranked as the second best smart city in the country also the city has been awarded for its advanced digital payment services. “We are trying to reach the no. 1 position”, he said. Discussing the theme, he said, “We need to develop the city while keeping alive its original history and we are all geared up for it.”
Jaivardhan Singh, the Chief Guest, in his address thanked AIILSG for organising Urban Dialogues and said that Bhopal is open to feedback for better development and implementation of the city plan. He mentioned that since the past 24 years, Bhopal has not reviewed its master plan, and “my objective is to create a new and more effective master plan within a time frame of one year”. He said that Bhopal is not only the capital city of Madhya Pradesh but is also a unique city in its own sense. Bhopal’s greenery and lakes are the city’s strength and it is our primary responsibility to preserve them. He assured that the master plan will be focused on preservation of Bhopal’s natural environment and will be designed while keeping in mind the next 10-15 years, as long term planning is needed for better sustainable development of the city. Moreover, development of the peripheral areas of the city will also be taken into consideration. Singh said that Bhopal lacks in urban mobility sector and therefore the administration is trying to add more buses to the BRTS fleet to improve the city’s mobility. There is also an attempt to introduce metro services. Other options like monorail are also being examined. One of the challenges that needs to be addressed is to bring in industries to Bhopal for better generation of revenue and employment opportunities, Singh said.
P C Sharma, Minster of Law (IC) and Public Relations, was invited as a special guest. In his address Sharma said that first of all there is a need to improve the services and its delivery to the citizens and then comes smart city development. Supporting Jaivardhan’s words Sharma added that we are open for feedback from institutions like AIILSG for better implementation of development plans. He said that Bhopal lack flyovers which is one of the reasons for traffic congestion in the city. To improve city’s mobility we need facilities like metro. Sharma also talked about training programs that AIILSG conducts and said that for our officials and elected representatives we can take feedback from the institute on their training and development. He further raised concerns on the state of educational institutions and other infrastructure that will be demolished for the redevelopment projects under the smart city plan for Bhopal.
The first technical session focused on the development of Bhopal into a smart city. The session was chaired by Nirmala Buch, Former Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh. The session witnessed the participation of Ramji Awasthi, Additional CEO Smart City, Pashim Tewari, Technical Director AIILSG and Harish Bhavnani, Bhopal Citizens’ Forum.
Ramji Awasthi in his address talked about the various achievements of Bhopal Smart City. He detailed smart initiatives implemented in and around the city for its development. Awasthi defined the concept of ‘smart city’ as a city wherein all the basic amenities and civic services provided to the citizens are ICT integrated. While development of any city is a gradual process and takes time to reach its goal, efforts are being put in to make the infrastructure compatible for ICT integration to enhance delivery of services, he added. Awasthi explained that Bhopal’s smart city plan is based on redevelopment model, where the existing structures will be demolished and redeveloped as per the plan. He further said that to improve the mobility of the city there is need to build dedicated corridors for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists. Also, to decongest roads and reduce pollution, bike sharing can be a good alternative for people who need to travel short distances. Awasthi mentioned that bike stand with smart bicycles for public has been installed at a few locations in the city. He further talked about various projects that are completed and ongoing in the city – smart poles, which work on renewable energy and save more electricity as compared to conventional light poles. Also, smart poles are automated and have cameras installed for surveillance. Around 150 poles are already installed and 400 more are in the pipeline. Artificial Intelligence based Integrated Traffic Management System is another project that Awasthi detailed. Nirmala Buch put forward a critical review on smart city initiative and while replying to Awasthi said, “Developments should be citizen centric, proactive participation of the citizens should be the most essential component for development of smart city plan.” Emphasising on the involvement of people she said, “Infrastructure is for the people, people are not for infrastructure.” Buch questioned Bhopal’s smart city plan, saying why redevelopment model and not retrofitting model was chosen. She then turned towards environmental issues and emphasised on the importance of lakes, parks, green cover and natural environment in and around the city. Buch further criticised multi-level parking lots saying it do not solve the purpose, as a person who visits the market for only 10-15 minutes will not choose to pay hefty parking charges. Very few people will actually use the facility, while rest will continue to park their vehicles on streets. She also criticised vertical expansion of the city saying it reduces the space for people to live. Buch concluding her speech saying people need to know about all the aspects of the city and this is part of capacity building for the citizens.
Pashim Tewari came in support of smart city concept and said vertical expansion is the only alternative to manage the growing population and their needs. Horizontal expansion of the city is not a successful model as we have seen in case of Delhi. Government of India has tried to ensure that before the plan is approved it should be visible to the citizens on the web portal. Also, citizen report card is a mandatory part of the smart city plan. He pointed out issues related to people’s feedback on the smart city initiatives, and said more than 40 per cent of the people do not accept any development plan. Moreover, to agree on any development strategy, what is the minimum percentage of people we need in support. It is a challenge that we are facing with and is one of the biggest reasons why all the citizens cannot be involved to decide on development plans for that city. Smart City Mission is executed by not only municipal bodies alone but in coordination with the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs). This model was accepted because the municipalities have very less power and whatever revenue they generate is not enough to cover the project costs. SPV model turned out to be a probable solution as it implemented user based taxes so people who can afford will pay to use the facility; this generates more revenue as compared to the earlier execution. Therefore, this revenue from the people who can pay can be used for subsidising services for the ones who are unable to pay.
Harish Bhavnani, the last speaker of the session began his address stating that in 2011 Bhopal was ranked as the third greenest city in India. He moved on towards smart development of Bhopal and said that Bhopal Citizens’ Forum was not allowed to opine on the city’s development plan. Criticising smart city initiative, Bhavnani said that we are building a city within a city but not focusing on smart development. While talking about the bike sharing initiative taken under smart city he said that this is not a successful plan as the terrain of the city is not appropriate for cycling. Bhopal is a city built on hillocks and cycling cannot be an effective solution for improvement of the city’s mobility. Bike sharing could be used for last mile connectivity viz. from residence to bus stops and vice versa, but in that case how will the person return the cycle taken on rent. In such case, Ramji Awasthi replied that bikes are tracked through ICCC and can be left at any bike stand nearby; it is not necessary to leave the bike on the same stand from where it has been taken.
The session was chaired by Anthony de Sa, Former Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh. The session involved inputs from Ravindra Saxena, IFS (Retd.), Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, MP, Dr Prakash Seth, Former Secretary at MPPCB, and Dr Arun Paliwal, Joint Secretary Finance, UADD. Anthony in his address said that Smart City plan has both positive and negative reviews from the people and balance should be created. He further said that mobility and infrastructure are to be seen as a part and parcel of one whole package. Ravindra Saxena put forward his concerns regarding the environmental issues. He spoke on legal environmental issues in Madhya Pradesh and across India.
Madhya Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act 1956 has not been reviewed since past 65 years; the law is dynamic and there is a need for updation as per today’s requirements. Forest Preservation Act was formed by environment department but it is implemented by municipalities, this dichotomy cause issues in its proper implementation.
Saxena put forward a few suggestions such as – There is a need to bring in legal provision that trees should not be cut rather transplanted; Reclamation of solid waste dumping sites are needed for better waste management; Sewage ditch needs to be built in a series so that sewage flows in them and will not enter the water body, also the ditches need to be reclaimed in an orderly fashion to prevent the outflow of sewage; Shelter belts are needed on the western side of Bhopal for preservation of natural resources; Catchment areas need to be notified as ‘Ecologically Fragile Zone’. He further detailed on rising temperature of central India and shortage of water resources due to warming. Climate change and its impact on humans was another key highlight of his address.
Dr Prakash Seth mentioned about the Upper lake, its fauna, its water, and its deterioration with time due to sewage, pesticides, and other industrial effluents. Major source of water for the Upper Lake is Kolans River, but improper management of the river water for agriculture and other usage hampers the quality of water entering the Upper Lake.
Pesticides and fertilizers used for agriculture are flowing into the river and illegal colonization on the banks affect the lake on a large scale. Government needs to look into the matter and take appropriate actions to stop further damage to water resources. He took forward the discussion and highlighted about the Central Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT) report on the Upper Lake. His concern on the report was that the issue of preservation of the Upper Lake is related to public; therefore, the report should be released for citizens’ consultation. On behalf of the Bhopal Citizens’ Forum he suggested – Effluent treatment plants should be set up to prevent sewage entering the lake, encroachments on the river needs to be stopped to prevent the decreasing flow of Kolans River and proper agricultural methods should be used to prevent contamination of the river water.
Anthony de Sa supporting Dr Seth’s point of view said, “The CEPT report is not any such inquiry that needs to be kept hidden, it should be open for
public debate.”
Dr Arun Paliwal, Joint Director Finance, UADD put forward his views on the development projects going on in Madhya Pradesh. He said currently we have projects worth `8100 crore which we are implementing. If we look at the water supply projects, we will be able to provide drinking water supply to every household in all the 378 cities of Madhya Pradesh (MP) by 2022. Also, by 2022 sewage issues will be resolved completely for 60 per cent of the cities. Moving on to Smart Cities in MP, Dr Paliwal said that there are seven cities chosen for implementing Smart
Cities Mission.
We have envisaged projects worth 21000 crore for development but equity received is only 7000 crore. If we look at inter-city and intra-city urban transportation project, we have made 20 clusters based on PPP mode and on hub & spoke model of implementation. Even if we move at the same pace and get as many projects from the center and the state we will still have a resource gap, and that is why PPP model is very important, Dr Paliwal added.
PPP can resolve the three limitations of the government which is financing of infrastructural projects, efficiency in implementation, and maintenance of the infrastructure.
The session was chaired by Rajiv Agarwal, Director General, AIILSG. The session was graced by the presence of Rajyavardhan Singh, MLA, Badnawar, who delivered his point of views on the development of Bhopal. Singh said that when we talk about ‘reimagining’ we need to have a plan and a clear vision of a city we intend to build. There is a need to conduct SWOT analysis of all the aspects that we look for in a city before we proceed further; Hyderabad can be a good example, Singh said. He said that one of the primary issues is waste management. He further emphasised on the importance of implementing PPP model as a solution to the financial crunch that the government is facing. We need to focus on how much we can stretch that rupee, resources and utilizing it optimally.
Ashok Wankhede, Managing Editor, Urban Update and senior journalist, highlighting the significance of Urban Dialogues said, we try to bring forward the points from various organisations that government and citizens might not know, similarly points from government that others might not know. Therefore, through this program we tend to bridge the knowledge gap and reach a probable solution to urban issues. There are certain misconceptions about the smart city development and many people have a prejudice that this development will not create any good. Wankhede said that smart solutions for development should come to people in a way that such misconceptions should not come up. He further said that there is no specific formula to develop all the 100 smart cities but for every city there is a specific plan based on its specifications. Development is an ongoing process and things will not happen overnight. He gave an example of Delhi Metro that initially people criticised it because the construction work caused inconvenience to people on roads, but today metro has supported the people so much that if it were not there, it would have taken 1-2 hours to travel a kilometer on Delhi roads.
Ramji Awasthi, joined the conference again to answer the questions and concerns raised. He said there is a whole lot of difference in a normal city and a smart city. When we talk about smart city we focus on all the infrastructure, especially for basic amenities should be integrated with the command and control center and is monitored for further enhancement of the services. As an example Awasthi said, earlier we had five water tanks and we knew their operators as well, but with growing demand today there are 175 of them and keeping an account of all of them without technological intervention seems impossible. We have abandoned the idea of manual decision and adapted digital monitoring and decision for providing service to all. Talking on solid waste management he said that by digital monitoring we can easily make out how much solid waste has been cleared from the city and from how many households. Awasthi said that to prevent congestion on streets we need to have dedicated corridors for pedestrians, cyclists, and motor vehicles and Bhopal Smart City has implemented it.
Intelligent Traffic Monitoring System (ITMS) is not only implemented to generate challans but we look forward to a behavioural change among the people to prevent further traffic violations. ITMS will make people aware that they are being monitored so they have to abide with the traffic rules to prevent being fined. Awasthi further said that when we talk about equipping the city with technology to large extent we also need large power for its operation. To overcome this demand, we will install rooftop solar panels and we also have spare land which has been kept for building a solar energy plant that would generate around 30 MW of power.
Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General, AIILSG came forward to summarise the conference. He laid down all the key outcomes of the conference & concluded the session.
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