INDIAN EXPRESS JANUARY 26, 2004
MILIND GHATWAJ BHUJ, JANUARY 25
BUT for the remnants of Debris on the roadside and a couple of stones they use as stumps, a group of boys playing cricket in the middle of the road near Nagar Chakla, a walled city area of this quake-hit town, would not catch anyone’s attention on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Their only worry, vehicular movement that forces them to take unscheduled, irritating breaks. This, when the broad road doubles up as their pitch did not exist till a few days ago.
A narrow lane passed from near it till January 26, 2001 when houses collapsed blocking movement of rescuers and victims.
“We are happy with this inner ring road, Bhuj will develop into a big planned city.” Says Gunit Parmar, a 19 year old student of government polytechnic as he fetches the ball from behind the mound of rubble that is taken as part of land scape in this headquarters of kutch, the second largest district in the country.
Like the young cricketers, others too have put the past behind them, relegating bad memories of the quake to the inner layers
of consciousness, and are finding solace in the fast pace of construction and reconstruction that is taking place around them.
The bad vibes generated by the Town Planning Schemes still rankle, but the administration has gone the extra mile, bothering to lend a patient hearing. Till a few days ago, it seemed impossible that the TP scheme could be implemented in the walled city, caught up as it was in legalities interests, both genuine and vested and disputes like those between tenants and landlords or simply among brothers.
“Not that problems don’t exist, but we have found ways to get around them”, says District Collector Pradeep Sharma, whom most people credit for successful implementation of the scheme, that seemed etched only on paper till he took over in May last year.
The local were hostile in the beginning, often petitioned that the authorities were not ready to sacrifice even an inch of land. Frustrated by miseries brought about by the quake and angered by corruption at lower levels of administration, they blocked every move to implement the scheme, and in return delayed the reconstruction of the town.
But given the quick developments in the last few months, the town already looks so different from what it was on January 26, 2001 or even before that. “Their initial resistance has been replaced by the famed kutchi resillence and spirit of cooperation” sharma says, confident that, ‘Bhuj will be clean and breathe free by june.”
An outer ring road, a middle ring road and inner roads have changed the towns profile. The whole town looks like a large construction site, debris, both due to the quake and demolition no more incongruous in the setting.
“It will be fun living in the town when all developmental activities are over”, says Mahendra Mehta, a 41 year old owner of shop in Saraf Bazaar, that itself has transformed into an orderly trading centre. “We are happy with god”, we lived by the rules and did not suffer in the quake.” Mehta says philosophically, “we never expected this big roads” he says “we started to agree for sacrifice only when we found administration willing and considerate to our demands”, Earlier we thought Bhuj may take atleast 10 years to get back on its feet, now I see it happening sooner, says Hasmukh Soni, who is not complaining much about the loss of Rs. 15, 000 when his cable got disconnected on Sunday.
Even outside the bazaar and walled city, the town has changed a lot. Some of the victims have already moved to three relocation sites in Rawalwadi near ITO office and on Mundhra road where more than 3500 houses will come up.
The town already boasts of a Super Speciality quake- recintant hospital funded entirely from the Prime Ministers fund, a 19 km long outer ring road and an airport. Kutch University will take shape over 165 acres of land, while a beautiful Hill garden is emerging on a hillock near Rawalwadi. That’s my dream project says Sharma. One of the few officers who have managed to convince people on either side of the calamity. Spread over 22 acres, the garden will have among other attractions, an amphitheatre, a children’s park, a nursery, a meditation centre. Rotary has already picked up 70 percent expenditure of the Rs. 1 crore project. Chief Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate both the garden and the bazaar on Tuesday.
Sharma has got the backing of his subordinates who are still smarting under the Rs. 11.50 crore debris scam spread over five talukas. As many as 727 people, including government officials like deputy Collector, Vidya shayaks, talatis, have been booked so far and more are expected to face the heat.
The district jail which collapsed allowing 179 prisoners to escape- but for seven all have returned – is yet to come up.
Given the large quantity of debris lying inside its premises, it will be a miracle if the administration is able to meet its targeting of reopening it in couple of months.
The Kutch museum, Oldest in Gujarat , Aina Mahal, famous Chattedis (Memorials) are among the important buildings where construction will take a long time, but residents are not complaining.
They say their first priority is to have a roof over their heads and get business moving.