The Vadodara City Developmemt Plan – CDP

Well folks at the heart of this whole controversy is the aspiration of a budding city to be a role model in civic governance.

The Vadodara comprehensive City Development Plan – CDP was actually the result of funding from the Central Government as part of the National Urban Renewal Mission – NURM.

Here is the background

The National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) adopted by the UPA govt in May 2004
NURM is to be a reforms-driven, fast-track, planned development of identified cities with focus on efficiency in urban infrastructure and services delivery, community participation, and accountability of local governments towards citizens.
Manmohan Singh Launches NURM on Dec 3rd 2005 http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=339284
Speaking on the occassion Dr. Singh said:
the 74th Amendment for decentralization of power to the urban local bodies has not yet been effectively translated into urban governance.

“Cities, unfortunately with some exception, have not been enabled to look inward and build on their inherent capacities, both financial and technical, and instead are still being seen in many states as ‘wards’ of State Governments. This should change”, he said.

24th Feb 2006 Govt of India Memorandum on NURM – Ensuring Participatory City Development Plan across cities appreciates Vadodara http://www.focusweb.org/india/content/view/782/28/
We appreciate the integrity of purpose and enthusiasm with which the Chief Executives of several cities, such as Pune, Nagpur and Vadodara, have initiated this process of consultation towards ensuring a public ownership of the developmental goals of the city.

1st April 2006 Baroda Diary reports Rs 2400 Crores sanctioned to Vadodara as part of NURM including Rs 1896 Crores to Vadodara Municipal Corporation VMC for http://www.baroda-online.com/diary.html
roads, Vishwamitri riverfront development, water supply projects, sewerage and sanitation projects, storm-water drainage lines, flyovers and bridges, regeneration of water bodies, and preservation of heritage structures in the old city areas.

12th April 2006 Indian Express reports that the elected Council of Vadodara is in the dark about the CDP which is being developed by the VMC civil servants http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=177705
Interestingly, while VMC officials insist that they have taken feedback from all sectors and held meetings with several NGOs, apart from the fund allocation, little remains known about the exact plan. Executive engineer F J Charpot, who is in charge of the newly-carved NURM cell, said the details were on VMC’s website www.vadodarcity.org.

The above website only has some background assessment data amongst many things the condition of roads http://www.vadodaracity.com/development_plant.htm
the increased vehicular population has resulted in increased vehicular traffic on the roads. The major roads and intersections experience traffic congestion during peak hours. The present vehicle population of one million is expected to grow to 1.5 million by the year 2011. Increase in vehicular population will further create problems of pollution and parking. Currently basements of buildings are used for parking resulting in traffic. Also, absence of pedestrian facilities results in traffic congestion and inconvenience to public.

26th April Business Standard report praises Gujarat and Vadodara for taking the lead in revamping cities http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu2&leftindx=2&lselect=1&chklogin=N&autono=223822
The real stars are Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

Then of course we had the events of last week, but some interesting epilogues to this

6th May 2006 Times of India, Ahmedabad, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1518828.cms
Meanwhile, Vadodara faces a similar problem but more serious in nature since even the main roads of the city are getting narrow with the extensive construction happening on the sideways.

For Vadodara Municipal Commissioner R K Pathak, city development is a reflection of its citizens’willingness and interest. “People should realise that cities are not inherited from our elders but borrowed from our children,”he says adding that law should be adhered to. But then, aren’t we all hoping for the same – a law-abiding society!

Offstumped Bottomline: Amidst all this hul-baloo the biggest casualty in Vadodara is not Secularism as the mainstream media and the UPA/Communist combine and their NGO cohorts would have us believe, it is Local Civic Governance and the credibility of the UPA in letting Cities shape their destiny through the National Urban Renewal Mission

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