Corporation taps that spew air or at best, muddy water. Metrowater lorries that spill water and blood in equal measure on city streets. Government buses that display a marked aversion for bus stops, spouting foul emissions instead on would-be passengers running behind them. Corporation parks that even stray dogs find unaesthetic. Public loos that are a Waterloo to public health … This is a roster of images that the various civic authorities of Chennai, that was Madras, automatically evoke in our minds. And topping them all is the ultimate civic authority, the elected Corporation Council, that raises more verbal stink, not to speak of slippers, in its precincts than the collective garbage of Chennai. Now, is there any hope for this city?
Urban decay is an universal phenomenon. World over regimes are constantly tackling civic and town planning issues wrought but by a slew of factors, the most obvious one being the spurt in urban population. Indeed, it is a fact that around the globe, many hallowed metros are creaking at the joints, and some at the very foundations. But the deterioration in most advanced cities is from a position of glory or at least from certain levels of civic superiority. Can the same be said of Chennai? The reality is Chennai never in the first pace took off as an urban metro in true contemporary sense for its present palpable position to be called a fall from grace. Indeed, it is a metro that never was!
So why grumble when Chennai was never in the reckoning as a world class city? The anguish arises because Chennaiās is a sordid tale of missed opportunities. Here in lies the tragedy of a city that could have been great, given its strategic significance, historically and geographically. Much before the British realised and exploited, both commercially and militarily, the vantage offered by Chennapatnam, the entire eastern shore had a glorious past. For example, the Cholas exploited this advantage to gain complete domination of the southern and eastern seas, both in terms of trade and conquests.
Surely, Chennai has not moved elsewhere and remains where it is. Its geographical position makes it the ideal choice as the gateway to Southeast Asia with throbbing ports, busy airports and flourishing business districts with all the attendant prosperity. But thatās all in the realm of āmight-have-beenā. Now, while Chennai port is sunk deep in corruption, dada-ism and operational deficiencies, its airports modernisation is no way apace with the increasing traffic on the much touted info highway here and the general infrastructure growth is generations behind. Clearly all of Chennaiās inherent advantages have been frittered away, ceded first to Colombo and after the Sri Lankan ethnic violence erupted, to Singapore. Now there are dime a dozen east Asian cities, with far inferior potential, making it big but our good old Chennai, remains at the bottom of the heap, buried in dust, grime and political pep talk. Funny how this ignominy does not kindle the senses of our very self-respecting ruling class!
The woes are not new. The master plan for Madras metropolitan area, presented by the MMDA as early as March 1975, has this to say: ā …haphazard and sub-standard development in the Metropolitan Area is going on at a rapid rate, …living conditions both within the city and in the Metropolitan Area are fast deteriorating …densities are on the increase within the city thus straining the already existing services, utilities and amenities …people have to travel long distances to reach their places of work …the conditions of bus travel are unpleasant and hazardous …ā and so on.
The second master plan, prepared in mid 1990s and currently in vogue …on paper, that is…with a āvision horizonā of 2011, apart from voicing some of those very same concerns also adds generously to the litany of civic woes. To quote the preamble to the plan: ā…however, the reality is sobering. The urban problems of Madras are many …the problem of shelter in the city is compounded by the increase in land values, short supply of developed plots…ā and more!
Clearly, between the two documents, and the lapse of over twenty years, very little has happened in terms of alleviating the basic problems, which remain. It is not that nothing has been done, only that the progress would give a superiority complex to snails. Be it abundance or shortage, Chennaiās water woes are legendary. The drainage system is set for its centenary in a decade and a half. Traffic congestions dog not just the roads but project files too, with flyovers, subways and transport schemes getting stuck owing to changing regimes, corruption charges, cost overruns and bureaucratic and legal delays. But what can be expected of a political milieu wherein the biggest civic issue is the positioning of a Kannagi statue?
No doubt, itās lack of political vision and will plus misplaced priorities that has done in Chennai. But no less contributory is the Chennaiitesā self-defeating apathy to anything civic. The voter and the voted, for once, seem to have formed an enduring alliance to ruin the city. Afterall, all that confusion on the roads, the omnipresent encroachments, the frequent processions and attendant damage to public property, the ubiquitous litter, etc could not have been achieved without ample public participation! It is politicosā wont to rule by rhetoric but the absolute absence of effective citizens efforts and the fora to both extract accountability and monitor projects has also compounded the crime, much to the detriment of Chennaiites themselves. The need of the hour, therefore, is a more responsible and more watchful citizenry, sensitive to the pitfalls of their city, yet ever ready to rise to its rescue, if not propelled by pride, at least out of enlightened self-interest. This they have to demonstrate not just by conscious action, but also through cultivated abstinence from some hard-dying habits like …well, we all know!
That way, though it might have missed the bus, Chennai may yet catch the flight to future.
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