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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  An agenda for urban governance
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An agenda for urban governance

With over 45% Maharashtrians living in urban areas, it is time for the govt to focus on developing urban areas in a planned manner

A survey by Marathi news channel ‘ABP Majha’ found that incumbent Prithviraj Chavan is the most popular candidate to be the chief minister. Photo: Abhijit Bhatlekar/MintPremium
A survey by Marathi news channel ‘ABP Majha’ found that incumbent Prithviraj Chavan is the most popular candidate to be the chief minister. Photo: Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint

Mumbai:Pre-election surveys in Maharashtra show that most popular choices to become the state’s chief minister are urban faces. The findings reflect the increasing urbanisation of the state, which throws up opportunities and challenges for the next government.

A survey by Marathi news channel ABP Majha found that incumbent Prithviraj Chavan is the most popular candidate to be the chief minister, followed by Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Devendra Fadnavis and Union transport and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari. According to a survey by Marathi newspaper Sakal, Thackeray leads the race, followed by Fadnavis, Chavan and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. Except Pawar, all others have urban backgrounds.

Thackeray is a quintessential Mumbaikar, whose sole connection with rural Maharashtra is his indulgence in wild life photography.

Gadkari and Fadnavis are also city folk, who were born and brought up in Nagpur. While Gadkari represents the urban Nagpur constituency in the 16th Lok Sabha, Fadnavis is a three-time legislator from Nagpur south west assembly segment.

Though Chavan likes to speak about his rural roots, he too is a completely urban person. An alumnus of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, and University of California, Berkeley, Chavan is more at ease in New Delhi’s policy circles and Mumbai’s industry gatherings than at some function organised by a remote zilla parishad.

According to the 2011 census, 45.2% or 112.3 million people in Maharashtra live in urban areas, up nearly three percentage points from a decade ago. The state’s changing demographic was also mirrored in the delimitation of constituencies carried out before the 2009 Lok Sabha and assembly elections. The total strength of the Maharashtra assembly is 288, of which 125 or 43% members are from urban areas. Before 2009, the number of urban constituencies was just above 80.

However, urban Maharashtra paid a heavy price as it was always ruled by state cabinets which were overwhelmingly rural. By choosing ministers with rural backgrounds, chief ministers largely bowed to the conventional wisdom of pleasing rural vote banks.

Now, with more than 45% Maharashtrians living in urban areas, it is time for the government to focus on developing urban areas in a planned manner.

The only government Maharashtra had with an urban character was that of the Shiv Sena-BJP government of 1995-99 led by chief minister Manohar Joshi. However, on the urban development front, that government too did not leave a great record.

In fact, its policy of offering free housing to slum dwellers proved disastrous, as it attracted more homeless migrants to Mumbai. As a result, slums mushroomed across the city and its satellite towns like Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali and Mira-Bhayander, among others.

The only good development for Mumbai during the Sena-BJP government was the construction of 30-odd flyovers, even though the administration failed to come up with any concrete public transport policy.

The first line of the Mumbai Metro has started functioning after enormous delays while Metro projects for cities like Pune and Nagpur are still on paper. The new government will have to expedite these projects on a priority basis.

Meanwhile, another crisis is looming as urban and rural areas demand adequate water for homes and farms. Pune has already witnessed agitations over the alleged diversion of water meant for the city to rural areas. Activists have opposed the construction of newer dams for water supply to Mumbai, as they fear it will affect the habitats and livelihoods of tribals and destroy reserve forests.

According to estimates of various experts, nearly 30% water in Mumbai is wasted due to its faulty distribution system. The new government will have to take urgent steps to stop leakages in supply systems of major cities. It must also focus on recycling sewage water, which will increase water availability in urban areas without stressing supply to rural areas.

Another major area of concern is urban solid waste disposal, as existing land filling sites get exhausted and those who live on the outskirts of cities resist dumping urban rubbish in their vicinity.

Attempts to use urban waste to generate power or produce manure, have so far met with limited success. The new government will have to work out new models to attract investment under the public private partnership route from companies with technologies to generate power and manure from garbage. It will also have to invest in research and development activities for such technologies.

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Published: 21 Sep 2014, 11:42 PM IST
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