A Study of Urban Development and Its Future Prospects in Sikkim
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A STUDY OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND ITS FUTURE PROSPECTS IN SIKKIM 4 dhesis huvmittea for trie Degree of Doctor of inilosopnij (dArts) of tke Llniversiti^ of u\.ortn~^Dengai by DEBI PRASAD BOOT CENTRE FOR HIMALAYAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH-BENGAL 19 9 1 107iiJb ) ^ V.LV 1391 •*" ' "' 44 ^ * CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT PREFACE LIST OF TABLES Lli'-T or r!Oi,.)RES Li:o OF PLATES '3l.<">y;:;ARY •l.= ^Oi OF '••MpiJLAT ; ON RAT lU •': h A.ML' OOMMUM • ';"'• t: :- A L" V OPAT'IONAL 3TURC:TnRi -RAT ION CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT PREFACE Lit' \ LIST OF TABLES vi i JLtsT OF FIGURES XI- LIST OF PLATES GLOSSARY xiv CiH&tP¥Elf? Q INTRODUCTION 1-53 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND . 9 GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND . 9 Physical . 9 Land Use . 16 Transport Po p ul a 11 o n St r uc t ur 0 . 24 DISTR]BUTION .25 DENS ITY .28 Uww Ucjrigi ty . 29 Modefate Dens 1ty . 29 QXMJQ. uiensit.y . 30 MJUL H1.flh Density . 30 GROWTH OF POPULATION .32 BEX RATIO . 33 CASTE AND COMMUNITY .38 LITERACY . 43 OCCUPATIONAL STURCTURE . 45 MIGRATION . 48 CtH&[P¥ECR 00 GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF TOWNS AND URBAN POPULATION STRUCTURE 5 4- 103 ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION OF URBAN CENTRES . 5 4 Types of Oricfin . 59 ADH1NI3T8AT1VE . 59 COMMERCIAL . 60 GROWTH AND STRUCTURE OF URBAN POPULATION . 6 2 Growth of Urban Population . 6 5 E>ensity of Population . c^ 7 Sex Ratio Ag e - Sr uc t ur^ . / .- Literacy . 7 3 Caste and Community , 7 5 Religion and Language 7 7' Occupational Structure . 82 Mi gr at i on and Ur banlsati on ,92 CWAF'ITEK QQO LAND USE AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTER 104-125 SHAPE OF THE TOWNS . 106 URBAN LAND USS: . 108 Characteristic Features of Land Use in Different Towns .111 RESIDENTIAL .111 COMMERCIAL . 1 16 ADMINISTRATIVE . 116 OTHER USES . 117 AGRICULTURAL USE . 118 FOREST . 116 OPEN SPACE . 116 INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE TOWNS . 119 CiHAIPTrEK QV CASE STUDY OF SELECTED TOWNS 24-168 GANGTOK ..,124 LAND USE ...132 LAI«> HAMAGEVmm ..,133 ...136 Commercial ...138 RttSldential ...141 HOUSE-WISE DENSITY OF RESIDENCE ...144 HOUSE TYPE 145 RESIDENTIAL CLASS ...148 Others ...151 Defence ...152 JORETHANG .,.153 NAHCHI ...159 SJNQTHAM ...164 C[H&IP¥ED? y FUNCTIONAL CHARACTER OF THE TowNS,RttfiAL-tfe:aw^N 169-194 L»«<AOES AND URBAN HIERARCHY FUNCTIONAL CliAKACTER . ..169 Types of Farwition . .169 Service Area of tt» To#ns . 179 RimAL UI^AN LINKA@E ...181 Factors Affectlr*g Riff^al-Urban Llnkanfe ...181 Extent of the Service Area ,..184 Types of Service Area ...185 HIERARCHIAL ARRANGE*ffiNT OF THE TC^SfNS , . .187 €1HA(P¥E[R VD URBAN AMENITIES AND IteBAN ADMINISTRATION 195-214 URBAN AMENITIES ...195 Social and Public Institutions ...196 HEALTH SERCVICES ... 196 EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. ...198 RECREATIONAL ...199 flopping Facilities . .200 HQUS jL ng ^_ -_^,202 Transport and Commjnication ...206 Water Supply- ...208 Sanitation and Conservency Services . .-210 Power Supply ... 213 URBAN AOMINISrrRATKM V cw^sPTEfi? mn PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF URBANISATION 21^-244 PROBLEI«S .219 Growth and Distribution of the Towns .219 Land Use .220 Urban Amenities and Urban administration • ^^O PROSPECTS .228 Ctevelopnient under Different Plans .228 URBAN DEVELOPMENT .229 WATER SUPPLY AND DRAINAGE .231 HOUSING DEVELOPMENT ,234 Future Prospects of the Towns .236 Prospective Urbanhood . 240 CDHAOPTTiElP WQOO CONCLUSION 245-253 BlOLIO€»%Af*HV 254-274 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT It is cu£toma.ry to put on record, the- help aixd assistance- ex i eAci'Sa' trorii iinxe^ to tin-je^ from oaTious so'uT-ce^s. In rwy case-, I f e-e-L It obit gat ov-'y to ac Rnowle^'dgv tn wri t trig the- assistance I I'efcs-ive-d r rofh uar-ious sources m pre-parinf^ ths- disse-T tat lo'ri tit^causs- '^-i thout Such he^lp and assisiancG it wc-xild ?\a'u& been hardly possible- to get th& pi'<sse-nt form of the- disse-r tat lovi. At th& outss-t,I fs-s-lpi'-oud of €^'xpr(~-ss irig my d&t^p s&nss- of gratitude- to my sup&rvisors Prof. B. Bhat taohaT'y'ya, Fro f <sssoT , De^paT trtuant of Ge-ography arid Applie^a CjefOgr- aphy , Urii'oecrsi t'y of North Be-ngal , and Dr. S. K. Chaube-, form^&r Dirsctoi arid F'r of e^ssor , c&ntre- For- Hinialayari S t'udie^s, Uriix>^'r-si t'y of Norths 8e-ngaL and cii pr-efse^rit Pcofe-ssor iri the- Dvpar- tnus-nt of FoLitical So le^ncis, Uriice-r-si ty of De-lhi,/or- the-ir g'uidaric& in shapirig my i-s-se- arch I I'liaginat ion and coristarit help arid inspi i-at lori in sc&ry sts-p of tr;.e- pre-prat lori of the- the-sis s'ue-r>. inspite- of li'ieir- busy e-yigage- m&rits o t?\e:r''jji se-. TT'ierir coristarit e^ncour-ag&i'i'ie^rit,acadmic di sc ussic-r-. ar-^d 'uaL'ua2ci& aduice arid sug^g^e-s t tori tie-l p&d iXus oue^rccjme- t!re- irii tial '•••iur d i e £ that I oas corifronte-d oitfi my r&s&ar-ch proble-ms. It was their S'us tained pressure conuoined with love arid af fee t ions that gaue fTie the rare incentixje and momeritum to carvy on arid complete this ruorh. with the help of their creatiue mind as well as criticat and ooris true t ive outlook. The pceserit dtsser tat tori thus was much to these ideal teachers, t'r-usted phi losophers and creative meritors I Ki. tx-\e way of its successful completion. I cannot afford to fail to put on r-ecord ^av indehtedness to Dr. R. R. Dhamala, Reader, Centre for- Hirrualayari Studies,Univer-sity c-f North Bengal for exteridirig her- wide Knowledge arid exper-1 ise iri the field which ercriched my Knowledge over- the r^giori and cariue as a coriducive boost in course of my field iriuestigatiori. I feel equ ally privileged to acknowledge my indebtedriess to Dr-. B.F.Misra, Frofessor,Ceritr-e for Himjalayai'i Studies, Dr. T. B. Subba, Lee turer..Cen- tre for HimcLlayan Studies .and Mr. lid. Yasin, Lee turer. Department of Political Science ..Ur\.i'oer si ty of North Bengal for their ualued sug gestion and aduice they kindly extended throughout the preparation of the dissertation. I xjK>uld also like to record my indebtedness to Mr. P. B. ChcLhrabor ty, Mr. K. S. Steffen, Mrs 1. Dham£tla, Mr. B. K. Centxiry, Mr. S. Pradhan, P. Das and K. Dasgupta for their sincere interest and assistance that they rendered in conducting the field s'uruey. Thanks are also due to all the staff members of the Census Unit, Sikhim; Agriculture,Survey and Set tlement,Basar,Transport.Education and Health Departments of the Govt, of Sikkim;Geological Sur-vey of India,Gangtok Unit,and the local people including the business men of Sikkim for their help and cooperation. No thanks are too high for Dr.Pradip Mandal and Mr.Ajit Roy of North Bengal University for their valued service in proce ssing the data and getting them in readily -accessible tables and grapfxs. Thanks are also due to Mr. Aniruddha Sengupta, Mrs. Surruxlika Dey, Mrs Arati Das and Miss Prasasti Ghosh for t?iei2- sincere and patient assistance in working out the ma.p and other cartographical works. I extend my thanks to the Librarian and the staff nienbers of the National Library and Asiatic Society Libx-ary, Calcu tta,Indian Insti tute of Public Administi^ation,Sapru Mouse and Na tional Archives,Del hi, Sikkim Insti tute of Tibetology Library.Gan gtok and the Central Library, Universi ty of North Bengal for mak- ing available the needed materials with prom.ptnes3 and care. I also put on record m:y gratitude to Mr.J.M.MaJumder, Documentation Officer-, Centre for Himalayan Studies, Universi ty of North Bengal for technical advice in working out the bibliogra phy and refere nce works of the dissertation. I do not w>ant to miss the opportunity to extend m.y grati tude to Dr.LikKenswar Ghatwoar, Dr.Gautom Biswas, Dr.Saswati Biswas, Dr.Samir Sarkar and Dr. Biswanath Ghosh of North Bengal Universi ty for their constant inspiration to complete ffiy research work. Preface Urbanisation ,an important component of mod e r n i E ? + i on, has just started to appear in the Himalayan ter r i t or i €••£ . Sikkim's largely geographical and historical similirities with the other Himalayan kingdom is likely to render the study of urban trends in Sikkim a broad theoretical singnificance. In other words, study of urban development of Sikkim may lead to the understanding ?f the nature of urbanisation in the Himalayan states. The second objective of the study is specific which focuses on the pattern that is likely to emerge in future on the !:• a s i s of the developing economy of Sikkim. In doing so i *: v; i i ! be essential to undertake a thoKiugh study of existing physical condi tions of the towns and bring out the present limitation in this sphere. Another major objective of this study is to focus on the nature and extent of rtira 1 urban linkages that have emerged thro ugh decades, developing some of the important places into urban c e n t res. Finally, on the basis of a careful m i c r o- 1e v e1 inves tigation into the nature of growth and their spatial interaction pattern that have developed over such difficult physical conditi ons, the study seeks to unfold the nature of dominance of the terr ain and its allied aspects over the human settlements.