Urban Development: What Went Wrong in Maharashtra ?

The subject matter of urban development has turned out to be a matter of concern in India for the last few decades. As per the 2011 census conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, about 31.2% of the total Indian population lives in urban areas, which has naturally witnessed a rapid growth in recent years. Today, India ranks number one in the world in terms of total population and the recent projections by World Bank Group suggest that nearly 40 percent of this population will shift to urban cities by 2036. There has been a massive urban-rural transition in process, changing the living standards for those involved. This leads us to the obvious question of accommodation and whether our cities are equipped with the necessary infrastructure and resources to facilitate the influx of such a large population.

Background:

In the recent decades metropolitan cities, namely Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune have established themselves as the hub of development projects. This has also led to a lot of rural population shifting to these cities in search of employment opportunities. Naturally, these cities which were not designed to accommodate such a large population have started feeling the brunt of this rapid transition.

The cities are overburdened with limited resources. This has led to a constant state of heterogeneity in terms of spatial, income and living standards. This has also led to a disparity in development across the different portions of urban localities.

Effects of urbanization in Maharashtra:

As per the 2011 Census, Maharashtra is the third most urbanized state in India. As a result, the state continues to battle with basic amenities and resources for its inhabitants. With a projected population of 133,870,00 in 2025, most of the development and employment opportunities in the state of Maharashtra are still concentrated in cities Mumbai and around Pune. Naturally, this has affected the cities’ capacity to a huge extent.

Mumbai attracted people from all over India due to its immense growth capacity and this is the primary reason as to why it is still considered to be the financial capital of India. The population influx boomed especially in the decades of 1970s and 80s. This obviously led to a huge strain on the city’s resources.

The foremost issue was the unavailability of sufficient land in the city to absorb the exponentially growing population. This in turn led to a haphazard growth in the suburbs and gave rise to the formation of slum settlements. This is when the unplanned squatter settlements like Dharavi started cropping up and the city started getting congested. These instances were the result of inadequate planning and a lack of vision by the urban local governing body. Eventually, this led the incoming population to settle in the nearby areas of Mumbai such as Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira-Bhayander, Ulhasnagar, Vasai-Virar, Bhiwandi, etc. As a result, Thane district has turned out to be the number one district in India with the highest number of municipal corporations.

The urban shift was further fuelled by the advent of the IT revolution in 2000. Specific cities in Maharashtra like Pune  witnessed a huge amount of economic growth leading to significant rise in job opportunities. This led to considerable growth in its neighboring cities like  Pimpri-Chinchwad as well, leading to the creation of an urban conglomeration structure. Obviously in a similar fashion as Mumbai, these series of events also led to an exponential rise in the city’s population in a matter of 10-15 years. But the local governing body could not keep up with the pace of building adequate infrastructure with respect to the population growth. As a result, Pune is facing the same fate as Mumbai when it comes to urban development issues. Slum settlements have grown in various pockets of the city and traffic management has become a daily headache for both the citizens and the local administration.

As a result of the rapid urbanization process, the United Progressive Alliance government launched the ‘Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission’(JNNURM) in 2005 to encourage reforms and facilitate fast-track development of 63 cities in India. This was followed by the Smart Cities mission which was launched in 2015 by the central government covering 100 cities. The programme was introduced as an answer to the rapidly rising urban challenge of India which is why out of the 100 cities, there were 8 cities which belonged to Maharashtra. However, this mission in particular was a bouquet of hits and misses and the success of it still remains debatable as many projects under the scheme have not yet been completed or were abruptly discarded. A similar result was observed in Maharashtra as well, inspite of the fact that the state managed to consume 94 % of the budget allocation.

Recent developments:

It is high time that the Maharashtra government starts prioritising tier two cities in the state for new investment and generating employment opportunities. Cities like Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad), Nashik and Nagpur have a huge untapped potential to grow. Shifting the focus to these cities would help reduce the ever-increasing load on Mumbai and Pune regions. All of these cities have good basic infrastructure like airports, railway and road connectivity, which can serve as a foundation for future projects.

There have been a few developments recently which might lead to positive changes. For example, the Mumbai – Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway which is expected to be completed by February 2025 will prove to be a huge boon for the backward regions of Marathwada and Vidarbha. By enhancing connectivity, it will cut the travel time from Nagpur to Mumbai from the existing 16 hours to just 10 hours. It will also lead to the creation of a whole new range of townships and agricultural centres along the expressway. There have also been significant investments in different parts of Maharashtra. The Japanese car manufacturing giant Toyota  has signed a deal with the Maharashtra government wherein it would examine the city of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar to set up its hybrid car manufacturing facility by 2026 worth Rs. 20,000 crores. Other companies like JSW Electric Mobility and Lubrizol Corporation have also hopped on the bandwagon and are going to invest a total of Rs. 27,200 crores in Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor’s (DMIC) Bidkin node.  It has been estimated that the project would lead to creating a total of 15,000 indirect jobs.

Conclusion:

Although these developments are a positive sign of the investments and a reflection of focus being shifting away from Mumbai and Pune, a lot still needs to be done. It is necessary to balance out the disparity in the urban development in Maharashtra and expand its scope to other cities. Cities like Mumbai and Pune are heavily congested and do not have the capacity to retain people anymore. Therefore, focusing on developing the tier-2 cities as alternatives will definitely benefit the state and help in achieving a balanced development.