With around 600 kms of Metro line projects under construction in 12 cities and over 500 km projects under consideration, it is of utmost significance and urgency to point out the highly unsustainable ways in which the so-called sustainable Metro projects are being implemented. Why should metro rail be established at the cost of other modes, especially the non-motorized modes of cycling and walking, and then profess the idea of multi-modal integration? Why are cities continually investing and compromising towards one grand idea as the sole solution to traffic problem rather than small constructive ideas weaved together? And can any futuristic planning be so bereft of and violent to a city’s past and present?
In the last one month, three major roads of Pune- Karve Road, Old Canal Road and Law College Road - underwent a significant change. A change considered both ‘planned’ and ‘necessary’. A change brought about at full tilt and yet reported surreptitiously. A change radical in its consequences but normalized and objectified in its implementation.