I am from Indore. I have been born and brought up here and I’m in love with this city. This city has so much on offer and this city never fails to amaze me. Not because I’m a diehard Indori, but because I’ve been to other cities in my life and the kind of satisfaction Indore has, in the continual frustration of striving of which life consist; you will fail to find the same level of solace in a day to day life, in other cities in India. They might impress you, they might give you better pay options, they might make you rich soon, but at the end of the day; you will run back to Indore. This city is going to give you a better view of the sky, when you’ll relax in your garden chair.
One evening while browsing the internet, I stumbled upon a venture called “Indore HD” and found it quite amazing. Not because it had all the information anyone would probably need about Indore, but it had a vision to make Indore a much better city. It had a mission to make people aware of where we are drifting and how we could correct it. I called up the place and fixed myself an appointment with Mr. Tapan Gupta; the brains behind Indore HD.
“We were founded with a simple belief that this city needs to be changed the way people think about it. We are here to make a difference. I know that it is going to be hard but nothing has transformed something easily, no?” – Added Tapan.
He asked me a simple question; he asked me despite having so much in the city, why it is not getting its place in other Metro cities. Why this city is termed as mini Mumbai and still is not finding its place where the real Mumbai stands? What is lacking?
What makes a city metro? What is really takes to have a place in the metro list in India?
For a city to be a metro, it must deliver better quality of life for citizens without harming much of the environment. The growth must be smart, with an approach that is strategically aligned to growth opportunities, integrating environmental thinking, and ensuring that all citizens enjoy their city’s prosperity. A first step therefore, is to identify a city’s competitive advantages; Indore enjoys being well connected; it has good climate all year round, there isn’t much of problem of water in majority of areas, we have proper supply of electricity and Indore has a huge potential to be strengthened.
This city needs a plan for change and it needs a regional planning model that will promote growth not only in the city, but also in the entire region. This city needs proper planning on transportation, open space, land use, social inclusion, and housing. This will ensure that Indore’s changing needs evolve while ensuring that it continues to make progress toward long-term targets.
Road Infrastructure And Resulting Traffic
“Bhiya! Palasia se Rajbada jaana hai, kitta time lagega?”
“Dada, Sev Parmal daab lo thaili me, raste me hi dinner ho jaega”
If you are going to commute in the peak hours of traffic, that is usually between 7.30PM to 9.00PM, be prepared to battle a lot and lot of traffic in Indore.
The roads are good here but the management is quite bad. If you are going to look at the BRTS, then it might have made things easy for majority of people in Indore, but at most places on AB road, it had left too tight spots that results in major traffic jams, especially at peak hours of traffic. Posh areas like Palasia, Anand Bazaar and Saket during the rush hour makes it impossible for you to handle all the rush and go at times. Stand at any traffic signal and you will find people always stopping after the stop line, jumping red lights and creating quite a mess for other people. Zebra crossing has no meaning here and people need to learn a lot about traffic sense as well.
At the intersections like White Church, Palasia and Vijay Nagar square, the cycle time ranges from 120 to 180 seconds, which leads to long queues, especially in the peak hours of traffic and this creates quite a chaos. The growth of the population in Indore in the recent times, coupled with majority of the people still using their own vehicles to travel instead of using public transport or car pooling, leads to increased congestion on the roads.
If you think that this is really the peak of traffic and it won’t get worse than what we are facing right now, then you could be wrong. There will be many more motor vehicles on the road, cars, two wheelers and they are going to be almost five to six times as many as what we have right now on roads. Public transport in Indore like the BRTS meets almost 60% of travel demand of people and occupies only about 5% of the total road space. What we need is a better public transport system that encourages people to deviate to it, rather than using their own vehicles and adding up more to already worsening traffic.
The infrastructure needs to be planned and improved and the traffic needs to be managed in a far better manner. I’m not saying that traffic is stopping Indore from becoming a Metro city, but what I’m saying is this can be managed in a far better manner by introducing foot bridges, flyovers and widening of existing road network. We have cities like Mumbai and Delhi that enjoy metro status but they too have filthy traffic. Traffic in Indore can be improved a lot, if people are going to follow the traffic rules and respect the fellow rider and driver.
Be the Change. If you want to bring the change and contribute your part then consider car pooling and taking public transport. A little adjustment with the system would mean a better life for you and others.
Lack Of Bigger IT Companies And Comparatively Less Job Opportunities
“Job lag gayi kya bhai?
“Ni yaar. Pune ya Bombay jaake try maarte hai”
Though, there are many engineering colleges in Indore and we even have IIT here, but this city fails to keep the talent here itself because we don’t have bigger IT players in Indore. The government has taken a step forward and has come up with Super Corridor project, where it has developed 12 km long ultra modern shaped Corridor with investments from IT companies like TCS and Infosys. This has sparked interests in the population of Indore, where they are looking forward to live in their home city with immense opportunity for jobs, after passing out from plethora of colleges here.
The technology embedded in smart cities that comes with variety of IT companies in a particular city, has a potential to transform our lives for the better. It draws people from all over the country and this automatically brings more investors, entrepreneurs in the city and this gives boost in healthcare and education to smart transportation and tourism.
When we talk about a Metro city, the city needs to be able to appeal to the young and the restless. Indore attracts thousands of students from all over MP and other states as well each year and looking at the young talent we have, this city has the right population of talent seeking an environment to launch their careers. What happens is they don’t have much of a choice when it comes to IT industries and they drift to cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Pune and likes to look for a job.
More IT companies would serve as a major service industry; reducing the gap between the service sectors and others. It will also help the city to create new networks which will boost contacts, direct-indirect employment and business opportunities that will ultimately boost the rank of Indore as a city in India.
Connectivity At Central Railways
(Pic Courtesy: indiarailinfo.com)
“Tu Bombai nikal riya tha ni, kya hua”
“Arrey yaar saala ticket hi ni mili yaar, agke hafte jaunga ab”
As Indore is located at central India, it needs to be connected with other cities that are frequently visited by businessmen. There is only one train that connects Indore to Mumbai on daily basis, Avantika Express. Thought you have flight options but majority of people are dependent on railways and they want much better connectivity options as well. Indore is geographically located at the corner of Western Railways and this result in slow networks and limited options. Transportation is always an integral part of economic development in every city and it leads to it leads to higher incomes and affords better earning opportunities, lower commuting time, and also increases in land values adjacent to major roads.
Indore needs Indore-Khandwa broad gauge to be opened, so that it will open a direct connection to Andhra and Tamil Nadu ports. Indore-Dahod and Dhar-Chhota Udaipur will reduce the distance between Indore and Mumbai. Similarly, Indore-Dahod rail line will provide an alternative route from Delhi to Mumbai.
These changes will definitely help Indore in the longer run.
Apart from the above mentioned factors, Indore needs to be worked on areas like:
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Connecting The City With Smaller Districts
Indore is growing fast and the population that is living in the city’s peripheries should not feel excluded and there should be a transportation option that links them to the heart of the city.
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Doing More With Less
To make the most use of what this city has on offer, we need a plan here that accesses and manages expenses in a better way, allows option to explore private partnerships, helps to introduce investment accountability, cost-efficient IT investments, and embracing new technologies.
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Introducing Investment Accountability
With more and more start-ups coming to Indore, this city has potential to improve existing capacity rather than investing in costly new projects. They let you capture markets in big way, attract foreign investments and makes the city grow.
I want to conclude by saying that this is a great city and let’s together make it better. In this quest, we need a lot of public backing as it will help to improve the likelihood of reaching longer-term goals. It has all the potential to be a Metro and we all must work collectively to make it achieve the crown. Let’s help and make it a place where everyone can enjoy a good quality of life and make choices.
Let’s aspire to make this city overcome all the hurdles it is facing and one day, we’ll all proudly say – Yes! We live in Indore. We live in a Metro.
Story by : Rahul Cornelius