On the eve of the formation of a new board of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, The Telegraph draws up Kolkatans’ wish list based on conversations with scores of people
Hawkers
Promises to regulate hawkers have become stale. Nothing has come out of them, and the number of hawkers has kept increasing. In Gariahat in south Kolkata, there are three rows of stalls on the footpath. New stalls have come up on the pavement in front of and opposite Peerless Inn in the central business district near New Market.
“Two-thirds of the footpath should be free for pedestrians. Remove all hawkers from near the gates of Metro stations. It becomes a stampede-like situation during rush hours,” said a 30-year-old man.
Billboards
All efforts to beautify the city are offset by ugly scaffoldings and decrepit billboards hanging from buildings.
“Make a policy. There cannot be billboards everywhere. Make the structures that will display advertisements aesthetic,” said Shaikh Sohail, who conducts walking tours of the city.
“Limit the number of advertisements that will be allowed on a road. Ban all hoardings outside buildings that are architectural delights,” said a resident of Ballygunge in south Kolkata.
Overhead cables
Overhead cables, too, make the city ugly. And they sometimes kill people. A motorist had died on bridge No. 4 in Park Circus in south Kolkata after his two-wheeler got entangled in cables lying on the road.
“Punish operators who fail to remove defunct cables by a deadline. Snip their cables,” said a resident of Alipore in southwest Kolkata. “All cables should go underground. Overhead cables will never make the city look pretty,” said Rajib Pal from Bhowanipore in south Kolkata.
Heritage
The number of heritage properties on the KMC’s list is only a fraction of the structures that deserve the tag. “Protect the ones on the list and broaden the list to protect more such structures,” said G.M. Kapur, state convenor of Intach, a non-profit involved in creating awareness about heritage and protecting heritage.
Define heritage clearly so there is a distinction between all things old and ‘heritage’.
“The owners of heritage properties should be offered an incentive to maintain the structures,” said a resident of Girish Park in north Kolkata.
Open space
Kolkata is among the cities with least open space and whatever is there is being encroached on. “Protect all open spaces. There are about 700 parks in Kolkata. Do not build concrete structures inside parks. Keep them open for playing, jogging, walking or simply sitting and whiling away time,” said Bonani Kakkar, founder of the NGO People United for Better Living in Calcutta (PUBLIC).
A Kasba resident said that while approving building plans, the KMC should encourage leaving a lot of open space.
Decrepit buildings
A city that is over 300 years old has many crumbling edifices. Some of them collapse and kill people every monsoon.
Every time a tragedy strikes, the KMC says it cannot force people out of their homes.
“Counsel people living in unsafe buildings, if required repeatedly, about the need for a new structure. Ensure a fair deal for the residents,” said a Burrabazar resident.
Polluting vehicles
Kolkata is in a nasty race with Delhi to become India’s air pollution capital. A big reason for that is the city’s smoke-belching diesel vehicles.
A study by the NEERI has revealed that goods vehicles are responsible for the bulk of automobile pollution in Kolkata and Howrah.
The report said goods carriers were responsible for 49 per cent of the PM10 in the ambient air generated by vehicular emission. For PM2.5, the contribution of goods vehicles was estimated at 49.5 per cent.
PM10 and PM2.5 are pollutants that can enter the lungs and cause a lot of critical ailments.
“Phase out all commercial vehicles that fail to meet the standards. Stop entry of trucks into the city. Implement the old plan of having a truck terminal outside the city from where smaller goods vehicles will transport goods into the city,” said a man from Paikpara on the northern fringes of Kolkata.