© Kamla-Raj 2014 J Hum Ecol, 47(2): 125-137 (2014)
Greater Mohali Region: Geopolitical Impact on Urban Anthropology to Emerge as a Significant Tri-city Entity
Namrita Kalsi1 and Ravi Kiran2*
1Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Dev. Corp. Ltd. New Delhi, India 2Industrial Management, School of Behavioral Sciences and Business Studies, Thapar University, Patiala 147 004, Punjab, India Telephone: 1<011-29846777(O)>, 2<0175-2393133 (O)>, Fax: 2<2393005>, Mobile: 1<+91 9811446655>, 2<9876114591(M)> E-mail: 1
KEYWORDS Urban Anthropology. Punjab. Chandigarh. Le Corbusier. Periphery
ABSTRACT This paper attempts to study the factors responsible for shaping the urban anthropology of Greater Mohali Region in the State of Punjab. The regional destiny was a direct outcome of unparalleled political upheavals of colossal proportions. The settlement pattern was strongly impacted by the geopolitical dynamics that contoured the urban anthropology of Chandigarh-Mohali-Panchkula region which evolved to form the Tri-City. These mayhems churned the life and times of original and mostly migrated habitants and left a deep imprint on the lives and times of people living in the region or those who chose to make it their home by compulsion of circumstances. Novel architectural language and planning parameters gave definite shape and impacted its fortune which was later refined by consequent economic, administrative and political forces, arising out of geopolitical events. This paper focuses on the urban Anthropological aspects that lead to the emergence of Greater Mohali Region as an important component of the Tri-city. The study attempts to cover in depth analysis of geo-political factors facilitating its emergence as Tri-city, the other two being Chandigarh and Panchkula.
INTRODUCTION States were a group of States in present day Punjab and Haryana lying between the Sutlej The pre-historic past of Greater Mohali Re- River on the north, the Himalayas on the east, gion indicates rich aquatic and amphibian life in the Yamuna River and Delhi in the south a marshy lake which is evident from the fossil and Sirsa on the west. The CIS-Sutlej States remains found at the locale. The Punjab and included Kaithal, Patiala, Jind, Thanesar, Maler Chandigarh Government on their websites state Kotla, and Faridkot. that the undivided Punjab has been the cradle of the Indus Valley Civilization comprising METHODOLOGY Harappa and Mohenjodaro Civilizations, be- fore vanishing mysteriously about 8000 years The paper is using theoretical perspective ago. Punjab came under constant political, eco- to study the Geopolitical Impact on Urban An- nomic and cultural influence of both the west thropology of Greater Mohali Region in run-up and the east due to repeated invasions by to its emergence as Tri-city system. The study the Persians, Greeks, Scythians, Turks, and Af- identifies the factors that helped catalyze the ghans. This region ranked high when it came to process that lead to the advent of Greater Mo- courage, might and valor which saw centuries hali Region. The study covers the important of bitter bloodshed. This left deep combined anthropological milestones such as its incep- imprint of Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Afghan, tion, then reorganization of the State, when the Sikh and British cultures. The CIS-Sutlej region was trifurcated into Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, which gave further impetus to the emergence of this region. Finally the pa- Address for correspondence: Ar. Namrita Kalsi per analyses the impact of Political decisions on Apt 6a, Tower 8, the regional anthropology in Greater Mohali, a GPRA, New Moti Bagh, Tri-city component. The study then covers the Shanti Path , New Delhi 110021, India Socio Economic dynamics that gave pace to the Telephone: 011-29846777(O) Mobile: 9811446655 (M) regional development in Greater Mohali. Thus it E-mail: [email protected] tries to cover all the critical anthropological as- 126 NAMRITA KALSI AND RAVI KIRAN pects related to the emergence of Greater Moha- of the region - The Grand Trunk Road, lifeline to li as a significant entity of Tri-City. Shiwalik hills and the Northern Rail line. The main occupation in the region would have con- Objectives of the Study tinued to be agriculture, had this area on the foot hills of Shiwalik mountains not been select- The present study has been undertaken with ed as the site for building “Chandigarh”, the the objectives to trace the urban anthropologi- boldest experiment in urbanization in indepen- cal evolution of Greater Mohali Region and crit- dent India: ical factors shaping its destiny. “This shall be the new city of free India, totally fresh and wholly responsive to the aspi- Key Factors in the Emergence of Greater rations of the future generations of this great Mohali Region as a Tri-City Entity country”. With this one stroke the onus of real- izing Jawaharlal Nehru’s vision and aspiration The metamorphosis of the city is a result of of millions fell on this region, that is, “it should the emergence of multi-nodal cities in Europe hit on the head so that the people think and marks a new stage in the historical trajectory of plan for the future after learning from success urbanization (Scott 2001) and (Kakkar 2013). Like and failure of Chandigarh project.” Soon Chan- the city itself, lie different possibilities for dis- digarh became a famous example for Western covering and understanding what it means to forms of development -Le Corbusier’s Chandi- experience, dwell and live in ‘the city’ Irving garh not so much ‘Eastern’ as a ‘Western looks (2004). The present study covers the role of fol- at Eastern architecture’ (Duanfang 2012). lowing aspects which lead to emergence of Great- Since the medieval through modern era, this er Mohali Region as a significant Tri-city entity: region was part of the large and prosperous Pun- 1. Political Perspective jab Province. The first political upheaval in the 2. Development- Architectural and Planning recent past was caused by the partition of the Perspective country in 1947, when Punjab province was di- 3. Socio- Economic Perspective vided into East and West Punjab with its capital Heikkila and Xu (2014) also bring out with Lahore being lost to Pakistan. The region was example of China that not all cities are alike, and culturally, socially, economically and spiritually these differences are reflected in the challenges plundered by forced migration as West Punjab posed by urbanisation and the corresponding became part of Pakistan. responses cities undertake. Analyzing 286 cit- Similarly, Beall et al. (2013), examine the rela- ies in China on key words describing principal tionship between cities, states and conflict in task such that 7 distinct cluster of cities emerge conflict-affected parts of the developing world. in form of prototypal cities .There after the Na- It is widely accepted that cities have historically tional urban planning strategies emerge from played a critical role in processes of state con- socioeconomic profile and prospective devel- solidation, transformation and erosion and are opment issues of each cluster which will be still central to such processes, but in much more broadly experienced in anthropological study complex ways. Focusing particularly on an orig- of Tri City. inal tripartite typology of the changing contem- porary conflicts, distinguishing between sover- I. Chandigarh eign, civil and civic conflict and explores the ways in which cities are incorporated into differ- After analyzing the above perspective, it is ent forms of conflict as either targets, spaces of important to summarize these as under. relative security, or incubators of further strife and antagonism. (1) Political Perspective So to restore the functional balance of con- flict, an alternate capital was planned by Inde- i. Partition of India in 1947 pendent India as a bold initiative which gave birth to Chandigarh. Le Corbusier a French Ar- The Chandigarh/ Greater Mohali region was chitect was entrusted with the planning of the a laid back area of North India about half a cen- city of Chandigarh, appointed after an Interna- tury ago being off the major transport corridors tional search. The city was conceived not only GREATER MOHALI REGION-SIGNIFICANT TRI-CITY ENTITY 127 to serve as the capital of East Punjab, but also to Chandigarh was planned for a 5 lakh bur- resettle thousands of refugees who had been geoned beyond 12 lakhs population. The gov- uprooted from West Punjab and to heal the ernment servants who were earlier incentivized psyche of about 10 million people torn asunder and pressurized to buy plots for a sum of Rs. by forced migration and separation from all that 2,500 in a bid to bring Chandigarh to life. In a was familiar after having to abandon their homes, sharp contrast, post 1966 affordable housing wealth, cultural heritage and business. Some became scares and the real estate went out of princely States of Punjab decided to accede to reach. The Government accommodation provid- the Indian Union as PEPSU, integrated with ed in the original plan was just not adequate to East Punjab in 1956 to emerge as Indian State of take care of the requirements of three adminis- “Punjab”. trative entities. Thus the States of Punjab and In March, 1948, the Government of Punjab, Haryana facing a severe shortage of built in consultation with the Government of India, space had to look for individual solutions in approved site for the new capital in the foothills terms of housing and government and public of the Shivaliks which was part of the erstwhile sector offices .Out of such compulsion arising Ambala district as per the 1892-93 gazetteer of from time to time were born the planned cities of District Ambala. The region was found suitable SAS Nagar, Panchkula , the Cantonment of due to its central location in the Joint Punjab, its Chandi Mandir and HMT Township. The low proximity to Delhi, availability of water and ideal income strata had no choice but to look for gradient for natural drainage. The Shivalik moun- their needs at the urban villages and satellite tains and Sukhana lake in the backdrop added towns of Kharar, Naya Goan, Zirakpur, Banur allure to the site. The foundation stone of the and Lalru and therefore grew as organic devel- city was laid in 1952.True to the vision, Chandi- opment . Out of this conflagration “Chandigarh- garh emerged as a symbol of free India, unfet- SAS Nagar and Panchkula “emerged as a con- tered by the traditions of the past and as an glomerate of “Tri-City” (Meshram 2012). Accord- expression of the nation’s faith in future. It be- ing to Meenakshi (2009) while Mohali and came a bold, innovative and finest example of Panchkula always try to take mileage out of their city planning and architecture in India. close vicinity/proximity to the city, Chandigarh ii. Impact of Reorganization of the State of itself, by virtue of its past glorious achievements, Punjab in 1966 is trying to further them by adding new dimen- sions to its economic base. The reorganization of the State of Punjab served as the Principal Catalyst for the birth of (2) The Irresistible Economic Stimulus Tri-City. The state was rocked by second tur- of the Periphery of Chandigarh moil on 01.11.1966 as the region was reconsti- tuted on the basis of consistent linguistic and Most of the development in the areas be- cultural components and the erstwhile State of yond the boundaries of Chandigarh came up in Punjab was trifurcated into the States of Punjab, contravention of The Punjab New Capital (Pe- Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Chandigarh riphery) Act, 1952, applied initially for a 5 mile becomes the capital city of both Punjab and belt around Chandigarh which was declared as Haryana while it was declared as a Union Terri- Periphery in 1952. In 1962, keeping in view the tory under the direct control of the Central Gov- rapid urbanization, construction of HMT and ernment. The city which was designed to be the the cantonment in Chandi Mandir, the extent of capital of one State and one government, be- Periphery Zone was increased to 10 Miles (16 came home to the three, that is, Punjab, Haryana kms). The objective of the periphery was: and Union Territory of Chandigarh. As a result i. To ensure healthy and planned develop- the work force almost tripled in a city which was ment of the new city of Chandigarh. ill-equipped to handle the influx of a large num- ii. To prevent growth of slums and ramshackle ber of government offices and employees. So constructions. much so the main Secretariat building, a land iii. To provide area free from all encumbranc- mark building had to be bifurcated between the es/ unauthorized constructions for the fu- States of Punjab and Haryana in the ratio of 60:40. ture expansion of the new capital city. 128 NAMRITA KALSI AND RAVI KIRAN Fig. 1. Chandigarh and it’s region GREATER MOHALI REGION-SIGNIFICANT TRI-CITY ENTITY 129
iv. To regulate the use of land for the purpos- (3) Impact of Planning Provisions of es other than for which it was used at the Chandigarh on Urban Anthropological time of notification of law. Development
The Punjab New Capital (Periphery) The region identified for the development of Act, (1952) Chandigarh included a number of villages, their agriculture land and the settlements. The rural Post-1966 (Reorganization) the City and the area inhabited by farming community, loses its Periphery got separated and was divisioned into character after the acquisition of agriculture land 3 administrative units, with Punjab having ma- for the purpose of development. While evolv- jority of area (72%), Haryana (24%) and Chandi- ing the development Plan of Chandigarh, differ- garh (4%). The Periphery witnessed large scale ent strategies were adopted for re-settling the development of new urban areas of SAS Nagar, uprooted villagers who were the original inhab- Panchkula and Mansa Devi. The dynamics of itants of this region. Chandigarh region can be seen in Figure 1 .There i. Frame work for land Acquisition in Chan- was a large scale unauthorized and illegal sub- digarh, its alteration and consequences division of land in neighboring towns. In 1990, –with exemption of abadi-deh of villages 4892 hectares land in 23 villages in Patiala dis- in Phase II: trict of Punjab was declared as Free Enterprise a. The abadi area of the villages falling Zone (Dera Bassi) where Industries could be within the sectoral grid 1 to 30 were setup without the requirement of a change of also acquired in the first phase. The land use. Mesram (2012) sums up the status say- villagers were shifted to Pipliwala and ing that a number of permissions were granted Mariwala rehabilitation colonies devel- for change of land use as well viz. regularization oped adjacent to Manimajra which was of all unauthorized constructions upto 9/12/1998 located within the periphery control and further regularization of unauthorized con- area (Chandigarh Masterplan 2031 structions up to 3/11/2001 which was subse- Draft). quently stayed by Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana b. Subsequently the agricultural land of High Court Meshran (2012) further states that Chandi- four villages falling within the sectoral garh work group, Interstate Chandigarh Region grid of Phase-II, was acquired but un- Plan (ISCRP), Chandigarh Urban Complex der tremendous social and political (CUC),Chandigarh Interstate Metropolitan Plan pressure the areas under abadi/ Lal (CISMeRP) 2021 all emphasized that “the Re- Dora were left intact. Therefore, the gional Development policy has become neces- abadi of 4 villages Attawa, Butrela and sary to optimize the use of land” for agriculture Badheri were adjusted within Sector 42 on one hand and urban uses on the other while , Burail in Sector 45 and 2 villages Ka- preparing an integrated development program jheri and Palsora, which formed part of for the region. However the region could be the Phase-III sectors, were also made delineated only on the basis of work done by integral part of sector planning with- multi –disciplinary working group of Punjab, out acquiring the area under abadi/ Lal because the other policies and suggestions Dora except the area under the unau- were by far advisory in nature, while in contrast thorized/ unregulated constructions. the multi –disciplinary working group of Punjab This exemption of abadi area from land had strong legal backing of The Punjab Region- acquisition for the development of al and Town planning and Development Act Chandigarh was, contrary to the frame 1995 (PRTD). work of acquisition earlier established Thus the social/economic/market forces cre- for the city and had a significant im- ated the pressure and the development was per- pact on its anthropological evolution. mitted in Chandigarh Periphery controlled c. There was a deficiency in planning pro- area falling in Punjab u/s 11 of the Act subject vision for Economically weaker sec- to Norms, Fees and Charges. The ideology be- tion as a direct consequence of this ing that if it can’t be regulated or regularized, socio-political decision about one third then it should at the least be planned. of the city’s population comprising of 130 NAMRITA KALSI AND RAVI KIRAN
lower level work force like laborers, rick- ii. Provision for Residential Planning for shaw pullers, electricians, domestic Government Employees Was Inadequate workers, cobblers, tailors, mechanics for Unforeseen Circumstances: The fate now lives or work in these urban vil- of Government employees was no better lages. Unable to afford the exorbitant having been shunted from Lahore to Shim- residential space in planned areas are la and then to Chandigarh. Yet Chandigarh forced to resort to live or work in so was recognized as a seat of provincial ad- called urban villages which are largely ministration and provided for a large num- unplanned and organic. Thus the Aba- ber of houses for government employees, di/ Lal Dora areas of villages adjusted at subsidized rates of 10% of the salary. within the sectoral grid or in the pe- These employees were rudderless in the riphery, have undergone tremendous interim and eventually migrated to their change in urban usage from purely res- place of posting, that is, Chandigarh and idential areas to serving as a backend surrounds. The officers had government centers for the city’s commercial areas houses the worker class had urban villag- lacking in warehousing facilities, pro- es but the middle/ junior staff had no place viding dormitory accommodation to to go as planned development could not migrants and the lower income strata. offer unforeseen requirement for affordable Guest houses and godowns or other housing for them (Bahga and Bahga 2000). usages not accounted for in planning So out of these unanticipated socio-eco- or emerged subsequently have come nomic compulsions arose the cities of Mohali up within and around these villages. and Panchkula, in the State of Punjab and d. However a major deficiency in Chandi- Haryana respectfully, thus diverting the devel- garh, is that Corbusier had failed to opment away from Chandigarh and setting the plan for the accommodation of the con- stage for the emergence of Tri- City. struction workers or the under-privi- II. Greater Mohali Region leged work force in the master plan. These labors, having migrated from far After analyzing the socio-economic and de- off areas in search of livelihood, lived velopment perspective, it is important to sum- on the construction site on charpais marize the evolution of the Greater Mohali Re- with their children playing and living gion as under: in deplorable condition. Neither the planners nor the government awoke to (1) Geopolitical Impact on Urban their plight or to this omission. Conse- Anthropology of Greater Mohali Region quently a number of slums in about two to Emerge as Significant Tri-city Entity dozen labour colonies had mush- roomed around Chandigarh. This is a i. Post Partition (1947) prosperity matter of deep concern because Chan- digarh was a meticulously planned city Due to the resilient nature of Punjabis , their from scratch. Obviously the frame- hard work and lead in green revolution , Punjab work of development didn’t take care was on its way to prosperity within two decade of economically weaker sections, and of bloodiest partition. Soon Punjab emerged as more than 15,000 people were forced to the richest state in the country with highest per live in utter inhuman conditions. After capita income and infrastructure- every other due deliberation, as a corrective mea- state’s envy. These brought in rich dividends to sure, about 23,000 slum-dwellers were Punjab and became the bread basket of India. eventually accommodated in pucca one The purchasing power of people went up. and a half room tenement houses in the Well off landlords moved their families to Tri- settlement colonies since 1970. Yet the City owing to its good social, health-care and rate of growth of such slums is acceler- educational infrastructure as well as being the ating and posing a serious concern to hub of political activity . Thus the development the administrators, which is primarily in the region burgeoned. due to the initial planning error. Glorious Past Golden Future (2013) GREATER MOHALI REGION-SIGNIFICANT TRI-CITY ENTITY 131 ii. Reorganization of States ( 1966 ) v. The evolution of village Mohali to District S.A.S. Nagar in the last three - four decades is a Pressure on services and utilities of Chandi- momentous journey of a sleepy little place in garh due to the geopolitical fallout of division 1971 to a Class-1 town of the district topping in of states had given birth to Sahibzada Ajit Singh the region to become the 18th District Head quar- Nagar basically to contain the overspill of Chan- ter on 14th April 2006. Whereas earlier the city digarh and to prevent haphazard growth and planned was up to Phase VII, it could expand development in the Periphery. Named on the only outwardly in late 1980s. The city got its great son of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji is also own bus stand in mid 1990s and a railway sta- known as SAS Nagar in local parlance . The town tion in 2009. A state of the art cricket stadium was earlier called Mohali after the name of the constructed by Punjab Cricket Association village which gave its land and later lends its (PCA) has placed the city on world map of crick- name to “The Greater Mohali Region”. et. Other upcoming schemes were Central Busi- iii. The first phase of SAS Nagar planning ness District (CBD) Sector 62, Regional Com- and development began in 1960s continuing the mercial Sector 70, Healthcare centers like gov- Chandigarh circulation system of V-7s. Chandi- ernment hospital and Fortis Heart care , Silver garh’s ‘Sector’ 800 by 1200 metres yielding 250 Oak, Grecian and Ivy Hospitals and other edu- acres , similar to the traditional Indian ‘Mohalla’ cational institutes like NIIPER, CEDT. A number or a neighborhood unit was also retained. A sec- of new industries like Semiconductors, Ranb- tor is a self- sufficient module has shopping and axy, Punjab Tractors Ltd, Punjab Communica- community facilities within reasonable waking tions Limited, Punwire, Quark Software, Godrej distance, accessed through V-2 or V3 roads with and JCT has added to the economic growth of no buildings opening on to them, approach is the area in 80s and 90s. The Knowledge City in available at 4 controlled points which roughly the district have 8 National level Institutions. mark the middle of each side. It is divided into vi. The population trend with decadal varia- four parts by a V-4 road running from east to tion observed in table of Population statistics of SAS Nagar and Chandigarh relate to the munic- west and a V-5 road running from north to South. ipal limits and area developed by PUDA and These four parts are named A, B, C and D corre- PSIEC for residential and industrial purpose sponding to North, East, South and West direc- beyond the municipal limits. However, district tions. The city was most likely designed as a SAS Nagar was formed in 2006 and therefore continuum to Chandigarh so that the claim of beyond 2001 the population of District SAS Punjab to Chandigarh could be kept alive. Nagar has been taken into account on the basis iv. Mohali grew from small urban estate of 2011 census figures published by Registrar planned and developed in Phases by then Hous- General of India. The population trends of Chan- ing and Urban Development Department of Pun- digarh have been taken from Draft Masterplan jab Government under the Punjab Urban Estate of Chandigarh (Development and Regulation) Act, 1964. The Demography of both cities have been tabu- Housing and Urban Development Department lated together for comparison, which brings was merged with Punjab Housing Development out that S.A.S. Nagar is now growing at a much Board in early 90s, for the further development faster pace and is likely to overtake the popu- of SAS Nagar. There after the same was as- lation Chandigarh in the future seen in popu- signed to the Punjab Urban Planning and De- lation statics of SAS Nagar and Chandigarh. velopment Authority (PUDA) established in According to this, the population of SAS Nagar 1995. The civic affairs were managed by Noti- after inception in 1971 grew continuously and fied Area Committee (NAC) which later became had highest percentage of decadal variation the Municipal Council. Presently , Greater Mo- during 1971-81. With upcoming urban estates, hali Area Development Authority (GMADA), offering affordable housing and industrial plots, Municipal Corporation , Punjab State Infrastruc- both not catered by Chandigarh, the town picked ture and Export Corporation (PSIEC) in collabo- up growth in its very initial stage. Most of the ration with number of other departments and big industrial units established during this peri- agencies are contributing significantly towards od attracted the working population because of the planning , development and management of the manpower demand and the availability of this urban center. low rent housing in SAS Nagar. 132 NAMRITA KALSI AND RAVI KIRAN Fig. 2. Greater Mohali region: Regional setting GREATER MOHALI REGION-SIGNIFICANT TRI-CITY ENTITY 133
Table 1: Population statistics of SAS Nagar and Chandigarh
Mohali /SAS Nagar Chandigarh S.No. Year Population Decadal % of Population Decadal % of in persons variation decadal in persons variation decadal variation variation
1. 1951 24, 261 2. 1961 1,19,881 95,620 394.13 3. 1971 946 - - 2,57,251 1,37,370 114.5 4. 1981 32,351 31,405 3319.76 4,51,610 1,94,359 75.55 5. 1991 78,457 46,106 142.52 6,42,015 1,90,405 42.16 6. 2001 1,23,284 44,827 57.14 9,00,635 2,58,620 40.28
As per provisional data of 2011 census. Dis- iii. In late 1990s as the peace returned to the trict SAS Nagar had a population of 9,86,147, region, Punjab once again concentrated on its which is just slightly below the population of development agenda. Through concentrated Chandigarh. effort of the government and the resilient nature of its people, business houses, NRI and devel- (2) Socio-economic Dynamics Shape the opers gained confidence to invest in the region. Evolution Meanwhile Technical education was opened up to the private sector creating a large pool of tech- After some up and downs, the socio-eco- nically qualified professionals. SAS Nagar was nomic dynamics gave acceleration to the devel- declared as 18th district of Punjab on 14.4.2006. opment in Greater Mohali Region, its journey is A Special Urban Planning and Development charted below. Authority was constituted for this region on 14.7.06 and was notified under Sub-Section (1) i. Terrorism - impediment to socio-economic of Section 29 of the Punjab Regional and Town development Planning and Development Act, 1995on 14/17 August ,2006, to address the interest expressed The healthy growth through 1971-81 had a by the private sector and create a conducive setback as the region was afflicted by terrorism business environment to absorb the investment and proxy war in eighties and nineties. The de- promised by the big business houses and large velopment took a back seat, the major concern pool of prosperous Punjabi NRI community. became survival, life safety and security of prop- It was the first instance when the region erty. There was a trend of rural to urban migra- was opened to the private sector development tion as the urban area were considered relative- with an attractive package of incentives and investor friendly policy framework of Mega ly safe. There was specific migration of families projects under Industrial policy 2003, 2005 and and businesses from Punjab to outside the State. 2009 (vide No.CC/NIP/2009/1547 Dated : The State encountered serious resource 7.10.2009) for consideration by The Commit- crunch, enormous fiscal deficit and mounting tee by way of relaxation of Rules and Regula- debt/loans which totally shattered its econo- tions and provision of Legal, Institutional and my. This upheaval albeit internal made the re- Financial dispensation. gion most neglected in terms of investment, industry or businesses and severely retarded (3) Impact of Planning Decisions and Policies its inclination towards development. on Urban Anthropological Development ii. Political Concerns – An Impediment to Development i. The local planning area, SAS Nagar (1996- S.A.S. Nagar had far surpassed Roopnagar, 2016) covering 16, 642 hectares was notified on its district headquarter, in growth yet as a polit- 1.7.1996 vide notification number 6/21/95-4mo1/ ical decision it was retained as such to enable 3030 and u/s 56(5)(a) and ( b) vide order dated Punjab to stake its claim to Chandigarh a union 17.2.2000 and notification no. 12/2/2000-4mo1/ territory, as its capital city. Thereby further 732 dated 6.3.2000. The LPA covered land of 77 subduing its impetuous to growth. villages. 134 NAMRITA KALSI AND RAVI KIRAN
ii. For remaining area broadly the Periphery iii. Since 60 years of independence, Punjab a State-level Committee headed by the Chief was unable to notify any significant Master plan, Secretary was constituted in September 10, 2003 an essential tool for Regional Development. It to suggest an appropriate and transparent poli- became imperative to do so urgently in view of cy framework for and for regulating the con- large number of private projects on the anvil structions therein. The broad features: and the periphery enabling policy framework. a. Conversion charges to raise resources. The major bottleneck was the framework of de- b. Strict compliance with Outline Master Plan velopment laid down in Punjab Regional and of SAS Nagar. Town Planning Development Act, 1995. An c. Speedy formulation of Periphery Develop- amendment was brought out in the year 2006 as ment Plan. Punjab Regional Town Planning and Develop- d. Limited change of land use permitted in ment (Amendment) Act 2006. This opened the decks for further development. the interim. Thus Regional Master Plan of GMADA on e. Existing constructions to be regularised 1200 sq km (see Fig. 2): Greater Mohali Region, on humanitarian grounds. Punjab and Six Master Plans – Mullanpur, f. Post-Policy – zero tolerance to unautho- Mohali, Derabassi, Banur, Zirakpur and rised development. Kharar could be notified in about three years g. Periphery Act, a legal umbrella, to control for which Jurong Consultants (Singapore) land use till planning is positioned. were placed. In 2010 districts of Ropar and h. Total Repeal of The Punjab New Capital Fatehgarh Shaib and Mandi Gobindgarh were (Periphery) Not Recommended included in the GMADA area justifying the Re- “Enforcement of the Regulatory Regime gional policy. would only be sustainable in the long run if iv. This opened the flood gates of develop- total Area Planning of the Periphery is taken ment and a number of private projects of about up in right earnest and brought to its logical thousands of crores were promised to the re- conclusion… .” as chalked out in the Policy gion which, were given in principal approval Framrork for the Chandigarh Periphery Con- under the Mega Projects policy of Industry and trolled Area. Housing. The region has been targeted by in- The policy gave a close look to Periphery creasing number of outsourcing IT companies, Controlled Area Plan, Municipal Towns in pe- who look to capitalize on the rich investment riphery, usage within the Outline Master Plan opportunities in the region. Lately SAS Nagar area of SAS Nagar (Mohali, Housing schemes has been upgraded to a in the periphery, unauthorized constructions, construction prohibited in areas under forests, Municipal Corporation. delegation of statutory powers of the Deputy Commissioner under the periphery act to carry v. Mohali was a planned development and out the demolitions proposed. Gave preferance continues as such.The recent Master Plan in to Single compact unit enabled institutions and Figure 3 of Local Planning Area S.A.S. Nagar has been extended to 127 Sectors from Chandi- activities, farmhouses, institutions, recreational garh on north east , village Landran on the south and leisure activity. It adressed Free Enterprise west , from Kharar in north west to Aerocity and Zone (FEZ) near Dera Bassi, with power to the the Industrial Sectors IT City , beyond the Rail- Empowered Committee to approve the Mega way line in south east . Resultantly the poorly Projects. Such a policy gave credence to the connected areas exhibits problems associated imposition of a fair and optimal level of conver- with leap frog development. This is likely to dis- sion charges and Periphery Development Fund appear as missing links get connected and inter- and defined the governing body of Periphery vening land parcels urbanized. Draft Master Plan Development Fund. of Chandigarh envisages an Interstate Regional Although this cleared the decks for further Traffic and Transportation Plan in the over-all urban development and attracted massive po- context of an Inter-State Metropolitan Region tential investement, yet there were still some which spells out the augmentation and strength- bottlenecks to be adressed by Punjab Govern- ening of the existing infrastructure, ensuring ment. proper connectivity to the landlocked city. GREATER MOHALI REGION-SIGNIFICANT TRI-CITY ENTITY 135 Fig. 3. Local planning area S.A.S. Nagar 136 NAMRITA KALSI AND RAVI KIRAN
As Chatman and Noland (2014) state that CONCLUSION public transit improvements could cause more clustered and higher-density employment and The paper has covered the origin and emer- enable urban growth, giving rise to agglomera- gence of Greater Mohali by tracing its inception tion economies by improving labour market ac- and anthropological evolution. A close relation- cessibility, increasing information exchange and ship of Greater Mohali region with the mother facilitating industrial specialization. city Chandigarh is established by processing all vi. While Derabassi, Banur, Zirakpur and the relevant factors like the political, the plan- Kharar, the earlier Municipal towns, exhibit or- ning / architecture and socio-economic factors. ganic development albeit with recent master plan The region was home to sophisticated civili- level correctional interventions . The later de- zation of Harappa 8000 years in its historic past velopment as well as settlement pattern show which has archeological evidence. Due to the organic clustering in leftover spaces between dynamism of its location it came under constant already developed pockets within municipal lim- political, economic and cultural influence from its. The stakeholders in Zirakpur feel that the both the west and the east under attacks from plan does not truly reflect ground reality and Persians, Greeks, Scythians, Turks, and Afghans. these problems would have been averted if the An alternate capital was planned by Inde- stakeholders had been consulted more closely. pendent India when the capital of Punjab -Lahore Banur is showing spurt in education institutes was lost to Pakistan by the partition of the coun- under the vision for this LPA. Mullanpur, a try in 1947. Chandigarh was conceptualized by greenfield zone, is showing good potential. With Le Corbusier a French Architect to restore the the construction of the GMADA expressway, functional balance of the region which was cul- Mullanpur will be easily accessible from Baddi turally, socially, economically and spiritually and Anandpur Sahib and has lately been named plundered. Soon, Chandigarh emerged a bold, as New Chandigarh with upcoming Eco-town, innovative and finest example of city planning Medi City and Purab- Enclave in Government and architecture. and DLF, Ansal and officers societies in the pri- The Principal Catalyst for the birth of Tri- vate sector. This LPA is likely to develop as city City configuration (Chandigarh- SAS Nagar and for elite being very scenic and eco- conscience Panchkula) was inadequacy of Chandigarh to on a fast pace as the land acquisition has been cope as capital city of two states and a Union notified in late 2013. Territory during reorganization of region into the vii. Meanwhile Chandigarh, in order to inte- States of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh grate planned development, has delinated the in 1966. left over land between Chandigarh Phase II and The unique and world class city planning Mohali as Phase III with multi-storey group hous- and architectural language of Chandigarh also ing of CHB and cooperative housing yeilding lent its grid –iron configuration to the new enti- higher densities. The remaining pheriphary in ty of Mohali. The shortcoming of Chandigarh or Chandigarh now has IT park, rehablitation its altered framework of Acquisition became the schemes of slum dwellers, dairy farms, solid waste strengths of SAS Nagar. Initially every decision management, tourism outlets etc. in Chandigarh determined the pace of develop- viii. A Coordinating Committee was also ment of SAS Nagar yet in a very short time the setup by Government of India with members from city could hold its own identity as an industrial GOI, Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana to sug- township and as an avenue of planned afford- gest measures for coordinated development of able housing or supplier of components that were the region, suggest remedial measures through missing. The city soon defined a unique eco- Regional masterplan (ISCR-2001 and CISmeR). system with its own geo- political and socio- Thus establishing that the regional approach cultural dynamics and compulsions through a to development is the only answer to better statutory framework, which helped it to emerge development. It was a non-stater only because as forerunner. it was advisory and non statury in nature. Thus, this paper has attempted to establish, Concept note Chandigarh and its regions through the example of Greater Mohali Region, (2011)Town and Country Planning Organization, that direction of development is driven by geo- GOI, Ministry of Urban Development political decisions, are given bearing by Ar- GREATER MOHALI REGION-SIGNIFICANT TRI-CITY ENTITY 137 chitecture, Master Planning, Regional Planning gov.in/cmp_2031.htm> (Retrieved on 10 Novem- and legally sustainable and notified policies but ber 2013). Chatman DG , Noland BN 2014. Transit service, phys- requires impetuous like government impulse or ical agglomeration and productivity in US Metro- socio-economic stimulus to fuel its urban devel- politan Areas. Sage Journals, Urban Studies, opment takeoff. Thus, this paper identifies the 51(5): 917-937. downloaded from