My City At Seventy-Five: Future of Bhubaneswar needs to be boldly imagined

My city, now at 75, was just eight years old in 1957 when I arrived with my parents and lived in a spacious duplex house in Unit II on a nice avenue between the Railway Station and the Odisha Legislative Assembly. Demonstrators were not born, nor did anyone think it was nice to pitch tents there or squatting on the wide quiet road was the right thing to do. Wise men in Government never thought it was proper to erect impregnable barricades on the road to the Temple of Democracy, two hundred metres away from where I lived. Mobile phones were one and a half generations away. For exploring the world around me, a simple bicycle was adequate enough and I, on a bicycle,  would go around the city planned by the German city planner, Otto Konigsberger during his brief assignment and Julius Lazarus Vaz, the Government Architect. I moved to another beautiful bungalow in Unit I where every breezy afternoon I would hear film songs from a loudspeaker on the rooftop of Kalpana Cinema announcing that the evening show would soon commence. I would wait for the song “Aakhon Main Kyaji” of the Film “Na Do Gyara” because that would be the last number of the daily evening music extravaganza. It was thereafter time to study along with my two cousins for the matriculation examination scheduled for early 1958. 

The morning fish market where Ashoka Market later was built and after decades was demolished, was a quiet affair with only a small number of customers with a few regulars like the affable pressman Gopal Misra. Occasionally, I would go to the mutton stall in Gol Market where every slain animal would display a quality stamp of the Health Officer. In 2024 this arrangement would read like a page from a fairy tale. Happily, the stall still existed when I visited it a few years ago to relive my young days. 

In a very largely attended function on the 19th of August, on the occasion of the release of a unique and well-researched coffee table Book painstakingly prepared by Debasish Patanaik captioned “BBI Bhubaneswar completes seventy-five years” there was a lively discussion by a few talented young residents of Bhubaneswar who reminisced the precious heritage of the city that included the afternoon breeze-- now almost a history, the rich birdlife, the safety of women on road at night, the lovable neighbourhood. 

A city that was initially planned as an administrative capital of the state with a population of about twenty thousand, has grown exponentially and now is home to close to two million people. The city is the gateway to the state, and hosts a large number of educational institutions, and high-end hospitals that cater to the needs of a large hinterland that extends beyond the state. The city’s future growth is now a big enough issue that requires careful addressing.  

The issues that cause concern over the holistic growth and qualitative development of the city are about unplanned high-rise development, protecting the Bungalow area, increasing vulnerability of open spaces, riverine and forest zones, improving quality of life in historic precincts, rejuvenating crumbling areas by suitably redeveloping, making traffic networks work efficiently. 

The city is uniquely positioned being close to the ancient Sisupalgarh, the Ashokan edict at Dhauli where the Kalinga war was fought with emperor Ashoka, the rock inscription of emperor Kharavela, the unique manmade caves of Khandagiri and Udayagiri, the hundreds of Temples like Mukteswar, Rajarani, Rameswar, Lingaraj displaying the splendour of Odissan architectural excellence. The future of Bhubaneswar needs to be boldly imagined in a way that encapsulates both the hoary traditions and legitimate expectations. Perhaps we need to think of the Bhubaneswar Urban Art Commission akin to the Delhi Urban Art Commission which was set up to "advise the Government of India in the matter of preserving, developing and maintaining the aesthetic quality of urban and environmental design within Delhi and to provide advice and guidance to any local body in respect of any project of building operations or engineering operations or any development proposal which affects or is like to affect the skyline or the aesthetic quality of the surroundings or any public amenity provided therein.”

Smart City project could not address the problems of the entire city. There is a need for a comprehensive programme for holistic development. Certain glaring aberrations need immediate treatment. For example, the Gol Market on the Rajpath with a clock tower is crying for preservation and regeneration with the Clock ticking again. The place having the foundation plaque for the New Capital should be upgraded appropriately. The old Bhubaneswar town deserves to retain its unique identity and should be brought under a separate Municipality. The historic Dak Bungalow and its campus must be saved and upgraded. Bhubaneswar city is too precious to be allowed to get wholly transformed into a sprawling bazaar. Its multifaceted personality needs to be provided enough space to blossom.