A social revolution called riverfront

The Sabarmati riverfront project has been one of the most talked-about urban projects in contemporary India and has been acclaimed as one of the top hundred urban investment projects in the world. It has earned several awards — national and international — and is visited by urban planners, experts and professionals from all over the world to study this unique project. Having been associated with the project for almost three years now, I feel that the most significant USP of this landmark project has not been highlighted enough. This project is unique because it truly socialised a river, a historic river, which through decades of neglect and decay, had become a pathetic caricature of a river.

Everyone knows that the river bed remained dry practically throughout the year, except during periods of high rainfall. In normal times, the only water one saw was the illegal sewage discharge and puddles of dirty water. Any old documentary source or photographs of the river would depict the dry beds, the dirty water puddles, the slums and the helpless slum dwellers living in such sub-human surroundings. Thanks to the project, the river now flows bank to bank bringing in several environmental benefits of a river in perpetual flow. The citizens have now a riverfront to visit to unwind and relax.

Some critics say that the riverfront project is just a real estate project. The project led to reclamation of 200 hectares of precious urban land. Only 14 per cent of this reclaimed land is allowed to be sold by the municipal corporation in order to recover the costs of investment in the project. Rest of the reclaimed land is to be used for the general public — gardens, roads, parks and other public amenities.

The beauty is now no private individual has exclusive property rights over the riverfront. The riverfront planning ensures that the entire riverfront, including the lower promenade on both banks, is publicly owned and any private ownership that may arise by way of any sale of land will not have an exclusive access to the water, unlike in the past.

Some critics allege that the riverfront project led to displacement of slums. Nearly 10,000 families were living in the slums on the riverfront. The municipal body came up with one of the most comprehensive resettlement projects and nearly 10,000 families were given alternative accommodation in newly constructed flats, each a two-room house of nearly 26 sq metres.

This matter was decided by the Gujarat high court and a special committee headed by a retired HC judge decided the individual disputes regarding the claims. Anyone who had seen the state of the slums then and the new houses that have been offered would realise the difference. I don’t think in contemporary India, in any single urban project, so many slum dwellers have been rehabilitated on such a scale and in such a manner.

The historic Gujari Bazaar is a huge flea market, which sits on the dry river bed every Sunday from 6 am to 6 pm and is visited by lakhs of buyers. More than 1,600 small vendors earn their livelihood in the Gujari Bazaar. When the project came up, the issue arose about the future of the vendors.

The municipal corporation agreed to construct a modern Gujari Bazaar on the riverfront on the eastern bank, replete with all modern facilities like toilets, parking and better ambience for the buyers and the sellers in a project costing Rs21 crore on the same terms and conditions as before. This is a unique project which has retained a traditional bazaar with modern amenities and sustained thousands of poor families traditionally dependent on the bazaar.

More than 400 dhobis (washermen) used the river for washing the dirty linen of the city. Since the new riverfront project was affecting the traditional washing ghats, the corporation decided to construct a modern dhobi ghat for them to carry on their traditional washing activities with modern facilities. It will enable them to use giant washing machines in future.

The lower promenade with a river in full flow in the background is a lovely experience. On my Facebook page, I once sent a photo of the lower promenade fully lit-up in the night. The most overwhelming response I got by way of comments was “where is this place — in India?” That I thought was the biggest compliment to the riverfront project.

Guruprasad Mohapatra
The author is municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad