Vadodara lacks professionals, facilities to run town planning department

By Rohit Prajapati*
A city or an urban area is a dynamic entity comprising of many systems working together. All progressive cities across the world, who boasts of high quality of life for its citizens, have effective planning or other similar departments comprising of a team of diverse, multidisciplinary qualified experts from the field built environments who help shape and translate the city’s visions into successful implementable projects. In Vadodara, while there are many officials who talk about visions and lofty goals for the city to compete with other world class cities, the city lacks both, necessary facilities for effectively running a good planning department as well as qualified professionals to take these visions to fruition.
Various government authorities are undertaking many initiatives, like the so-called Smart City Project , Vishwamitri Riverfront Development Project, Mission Million Trees, beautification of urban water bodies (lakes), City Square, Ring Roads, Slum Rehabilitation, etc. But there is neither sync nor rhyme (a common guiding vision) among them. They seem like ego trips conceived by individuals, running in different directions, creating chaos in the city, and leaving the city in a state of disrepair.
The execution of these projects is done by unqualified or under qualified staff who have little or no expertise related to the complex subjects they are asked to deal with. The current status of the case against Vishwamitri River Front Development Project and the many interim orders, including stay orders, are a testimony to and offer a prominent example of the unplanned and sorry state of affairs.
Vadodara has not had a Town Planner since 2005 and the defunct Town Planning Department has little or no connection with the other Departments like Futuristic Planning Cell, Special Project Vehicles for the Vishwamitri River, Smart City, etc. Shockingly and surprisingly all the projects are outsourced to private consultants who impose their own values and philosophies on the city and the citizens of Vadodara are expected to lap it up due to the inability and inefficiency of their own city to set visions and plans of their own, provide proper directives for the consultants, or even evaluate the merits of what these consultants propose.
If Vadodara is to see successful coordination and implementation of any crucial projects for exemplary and comprehensive development of the city, it needs to have a smart and qualified City Planning Department staffed with dedicated, qualified planners as well as experts from related professions.
A dominant issue on the front burner has been how we treat our natural and human made water systems (such as rivers and ponds). Whenever we talk about a river we should keep in mind a crucial point that she should not be considered merely as a water channel flowing between its two banks but consider her in totality, as a watershed level layered system. We should stop using the term ‘water body’ in the context of rivers and associated tributaries, wetlands, and ponds. Since we have termed her as a ‘body’, it is meant to be over-exploited and abused.
Our rivers have sadly become default receptacles of all kinds of industrial effluent, solid waste, and sewage. The present development model and its policies have done two things to the rivers, either we have dried out some rivers systematically or, those rivers we cannot dry up, we have been polluting them very severely.
Most of the River Front Projects by design deliberately ignore the importance and uniqueness of the river, her wetlands, ravines, inter-connectivity with other water bodies, floodplains, flora and fauna, biodiversity, etc. Many times fancy jargons, images, and concepts are used in the project report and its propaganda, but if one closely examines these reports, it becomes abundantly clear that those words and ideas are intentionally misleading and many of these cannot be and are often not manifested at all in actual projects.
The problems resulting from such grave conditions and malpractice are exacerbated by other critical inadequacies as well. The major ones include, making plans without proper contour and site surveys, lack of any understanding of ecology or landscape values, and absence of genuine and continuous public participation. Making a quasi-governmental authority of local experts, NGOs, voluntary organisations and other project-relevant individuals to anticipate and guide future development projects and to review and sanction proposed projects is the need of the day.
It is high time we call a spade a spade. It is time to change our definitions of development, engage ourselves with our city’s future, and re-learn to design and live with nature.
—
*Well-known environmental activist, Gujarat

Comments

Gujarat Information Commission issues warning against misinterpretation of RTI orders

By A Representative The Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) has issued a press note clarifying that its orders limiting the number of Right to Information (RTI) applications for certain individuals apply only to those specific applicants. The GIC has warned that it will take disciplinary action against any public officials who misinterpret these orders to deny information to other citizens. The press note, signed by GIC Secretary Jaideep Dwivedi, states that the Right to Information Act, 2005, is a powerful tool for promoting transparency and accountability in public administration. However, the commission has observed that some applicants are misusing the act by filing an excessive number of applications, which disproportionately consumes the time and resources of Public Information Officers (PIOs), First Appellate Authorities (FAAs), and the commission itself. This misuse can cause delays for genuine applicants seeking justice. In response to this issue, and in acc...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

'MGNREGA crisis deepening': NSM demands fair wages and end to digital exclusions

By A Representative The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), a coalition of independent unions of MGNREGA workers, has warned that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is facing a “severe crisis” due to persistent neglect and restrictive measures imposed by the Union Government.

Gandhiji quoted as saying his anti-untouchability view has little space for inter-dining with "lower" castes

By A Representative A senior activist close to Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar has defended top Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy’s controversial utterance on Gandhiji that “his doctrine of nonviolence was based on an acceptance of the most brutal social hierarchy the world has ever known, the caste system.” Surprised at the police seeking video footage and transcript of Roy’s Mahatma Ayyankali memorial lecture at the Kerala University on July 17, Nandini K Oza in a recent blog quotes from available sources to “prove” that Gandhiji indeed believed in “removal of untouchability within the caste system.”

Targeted eviction of Bengali-speaking Muslims across Assam districts alleged

By A Representative A delegation led by prominent academic and civil rights leader Sandeep Pandey visited three districts in Assam—Goalpara, Dhubri, and Lakhimpur—between 2 and 4 September 2025 to meet families affected by recent demolitions and evictions. The delegation reported widespread displacement of Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, many of whom possess valid citizenship documents including Aadhaar, voter ID, ration cards, PAN cards, and NRC certification.

'Centre criminally negligent': SKM demands national disaster declaration in flood-hit states

By A Representative The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) has urged the Centre to immediately declare the recent floods and landslides in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, and Haryana as a national disaster, warning that the delay in doing so has deepened the suffering of the affected population.

Saffron Kingdom – a cinematic counter-narrative to The Kashmir Files

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* “Saffron Kingdom” is a film produced in the United States by members of the Kashmiri diaspora, positioned as a response to the 2022 release “The Kashmir Files.” While the latter focused on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits and framed Kashmiri Muslims as perpetrators of violence, “Saffron Kingdom” seeks to present an alternate perspective—highlighting the experiences of Kashmiri Muslims facing alleged abuses by Indian security forces.

From lazy to lost? The myths and realities behind generational panic about youth

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak Older generations in many societies often describe the young with labels such as “lazy, unproductive, lost, anxious, depoliticised, unpatriotic or wayward.” Others see them as “social media, mobile phone and porn addicts.” Such judgments arise from a generational anxiety rooted in fears of losing control and from distorted perceptions about youth, especially in the context of economic crises, conflicts, and wars in which many young lives are lost.

'Govts must walk the talk on gender equality, right to health, human rights to deliver SDGs by 2030'

By A Representative With just 64 months left to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global health and rights advocates have called upon governments to honour their commitments on gender equality and the human right to health. Speaking ahead of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), experts warned that rising anti-rights and anti-gender pushes are threatening hard-won progress on SDG-3 (health and wellbeing) and SDG-5 (gender equality).

Counterview

Search This Blog