Mamata Banerjee has requested Sam Pitroda, the technology superstar, to formulate a game plan for turning Calcutta into another London. Unfortunately, her good intentions have got the better of her factual understanding of the situation.

Calcutta is the second most congested city in the world in terms of population density. (Mumbai is ranked first, Karachi third.) What would happen if the rest of West Bengal were to stay where it is and Calcutta get a leg-up? This is a distinct possibility, as Pitroda will come up with something useful and the Trinamul-Congress-controlled Calcutta Municipal Corporation will get to work on it. The slight improvement in conditions in Calcutta will cause more people to migrate to it. This, in turn, will increase the pressure on its still inadequate infrastructure, and the development achieved will be negated by higher demand.

The biggest problem with well established, built-up, ‘hard’ cities is the excessive demand on their infrastructure. There is thus only one way to make Calcutta better — get people to move out of it so that the pressure on the existing infrastructure is lessened and the city is run in a better manner. This would mean fewer cars, less traffic congestion and garbage, reduced pressure on open spaces and fewer slums taking root. This brings us to what, on the face of it, is a contradiction: to help Calcutta, one has to neglect it.

But this is really half the strategy. To relieve pressure on Calcutta, it is necessary to develop counter magnets — other cities that can attract migrants by offering more job opportunities and a better quality of life. This should be the cardinal urban development strategy of the TMC, which perceives its capture of the CMC as the first step towards capturing Writers’ Buildings next year. Calcutta is at the heart of the Bengali consciousness, but West Bengal should not have only one national city to boast of. Maharashtra (Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur), Tamil Nadu (Chennai, Coimbatore), Gujarat (Ahmedabad, Surat), even Uttar Pradesh, all score over it in this regard.

Other options

The second-leg of the strategy must include the development of two or three more cities. Three possible venues come to mind: a greenfield one — Andal — and two existing sites that can do with considerable brownfield expansion, Siliguri and Berhampore. The key point in favour of all three is their connectivity. They are located next to important railway lines and highways. They can also tap adequate sources of water — Berhampore lies next to the Hooghly; Andal between Damodar and Ajay, and Siliguri, resting at the foothills of the Himalayas, can do wonders by harvesting the heavy monsoon rains.

The three cities also have some unique advantages. Andal has all that a greenfield city can possess. One can plan and build without having to spend a lot on rectifying mistakes of the past. Berhampore, one of the best-run cities in the state, is well equipped to expand in a planned manner. There is no need to explain Siliguri’s plus points. Its geographical location makes it a perfect candidate to get transformed into an urban hub. The three cities offer a wide range of climatic conditions. Andal has dry summers and crisp winters of the Chhotanagpur Plateau, Siliguri is close to the hills while Berhampore boasts of a moderate, temperate climate.

By promoting these three cities, West Bengal can look forward to a more balanced development that does justice to the geographical and cultural diversity that the state is endowed with. Calcutta, with its access to international development funding and the established revenue base of its municipal corporation, can look after itself on its own.