[in-enaction] NGOSpeak: Making the city livable (MN A Ganju) [ Delhi ]

Making the city livable

MN Ashish Ganju

The national capital city of Delhi that we inhabit today is the ninth 
city in this location. The eight earlier cities, going back in time to a 
period before recorded history, were grand capitals of several empires, 
and all of these have perished much earlier than anticipated by the 
rulers who established them.

The Delhi of today is also under threat of collapse, on several accounts:

• Whereas the population of Delhi is growing a little over the national 
average, its slum population is growing at twice the rate of growth of 
the city population as a whole; already a majority of the city’s 
population is living in slums and unauthorised developments.

• Although the planned expenditure by the State for provision of urban 
services and infrastructure is far greater for Delhi than for other 
cities in India, Delhi faces a chronic shortage of water supply, 
electric power supply, sewage and solid waste disposal, public 
transport, as well as housing and attendant social and 
institutional/commercial facilities.

• In spite of the fact that Delhi was the first city in the country to 
make a comprehensive Master Plan for urban development more than four 
decades ago, and set up a special urban development authority for 
regulation and control of the master plan, there has been rampant 
unauthorised development in the city; and today the whole nation is 
witnessing the extraordinary spectacle of not only the High Court of 
Delhi, but also the Supreme Court of India, having to pass orders for 
demolition and sealing of illegal commercial developments throughout the 
city, leading to public (and sometimes violent) protests by not only the 
trader community but also elected political representatives from the 
opposition as well as the ruling party.

cont'd....
http://www.civilsocietyonline.com/news_details.asp?news_id=110