A quick stroll down Hubballi’s Koppikar Road or commercial hubs in Mysuru, Mangaluru, Belagavi or Kalaburagi reveals the phenomenal growth of our tier-II cities in the past decade. They are poised for a big boom in the future.
It may take a while for these cities to catch up with Bengaluru, but if the administration fails, they could be faced with all the problems that the state capital is confronted with today.
It is a natural outcome when exponential growth precedes planning. To avoid such a situation, the powers that be who keep blathering about building ‘Brand Bengaluru’ or changing the names of neighbouring districts, need to come up with a clear long-term vision for all our tier-2 cities. Preparing a vision document by involving the citizenry and urban planners, and taking measures to put the plan into action, would help ensure that the growth is not haphazard as has happened in Bengaluru.
That becomes all the more important as the state government is taking several initiatives to woo investors to look “beyond Bengaluru”. Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) which is also working on taking industries to other cities in the state, sees emerging clusters in Hubballi-Dharwad-Belagavi for artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT) and advanced manufacturing, Mangaluru for fintech and Mysuru for cyber security.
While investments coming from outside and a big pool of talented manpower in tier-2 cities will power development, the government’s intervention is required to ensure such development is well-planned. Systematic, all-round development can make life much better for residents, and ease the burden on the state capital, while tier-2 cities can emerge as manufacturing, industrial, or financial hubs in this part of the country.
In the last few years, most of them have got air connectivity, which can help unlock their economic potential at a faster pace. Most of them are also well connected with good road and rail networks.
Immediate past president of Karnatak Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hubballi, Vinay Javali, terms Hubballi as a big trading hub for North Karnataka, and feels that city planners must have a larger perspective by taking into consideration the problems faced by Bengaluru.
The twin cities (Hubballi-Dharwad) have firmly established themselves as an education hub by hosting top institutions, including the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT). Direct train connectivity between Dharwad and Belagavi, which now takes a circuitous route via Londa, will further boost economic activities in Hubballi-Dharwad, plonked right in between the Bengaluru-Mumbai Industrial Corridor — one among the 11 being developed by the Central Government.
Unfortunately, town/city planning agencies are barely engineered for long-term planning. District in-charge ministers, parliamentarians, legislators, and those in urban local bodies must play a greater role, not just confine themselves to working on a budget-to-budget or election-to-election basis.
Along with building roads and flyovers that can cater to today’s requirements, there is an urgent need to prepare a roadmap for future development and start taking steps in that direction.
There is a need for systematic development of new layouts with wider roads and better civic amenities, planning outer ring roads to evenly spread development and decongest the cities; segregation of industries for better handling of effluents; and planning for meeting future drinking water requirements by taking into consideration the growth ahead, instead of digging wells when taps go dry.
The administration also needs to take measures to address concerns over air quality in many of these cities, which is deteriorating with rapid industrialisation and increase in the number of vehicles; and better rainwater harvesting mechanisms, measures to avoid flooding, and solid waste management.
Some of these issues may not sound serious enough right now to require long-term planning or intervention. But, look at Bengaluru’s struggle to cope with basic issues. With all its technological prowess, Fortune 500 firms, unicorns, and the tag of being innovation and start-up capital of India, its roads and areas in low-lying areas get flooded during heavy rains, solid waste management is a Herculean task for civic agencies, and traffic congestion remains a major challenge. “Namma Metro” is easing the congestion to an extent in the corridors where it operates, but it will take time for it to reach many high-density corridors.
Some cities like Mysuru may have wider roads, ring roads, and industrial areas that can handle growth in the near future. But it is important to get a comprehensive growth assessment of all tier-2 cities. We need to assess where we want to see them in the coming decades and ensure their planned growth. They cannot be allowed to go the Bengaluru way.