Development

Development
Originally uploaded by souravdas

I just saw this pic on flickr, taken by my good friend Sourav. It shows a view of new housing developments under construction in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, on the outskirts of Delhi.

In the backdrop is agricultural farmland which will also be urban landscape in the near future. Two years back, the buildings on the right did not exist. Instead, this area too was farmland.

Much the same is happening on the outskirts of Chandigarh. Now it is difficult to see any farmland in the entire drive from Dera Bassi to Zirakpur which is a good 10kms. This was not the case even till about 2-3 years, housing schemes and marriage palaces have mushroomed like well, Mushrooms. With prices in Chandigarh being obscenely high, these housing schemes are the only way that people from the middle class can have any chance of owning a house of any sort. The problem remains one of infrastructure, these buildings have come up in the midst of debris and chaos and have added to that debris and chaos. people in power who have wanted to make money have allowed direct entrances to these buildings from the national highway leading to even more chaos on the highways, no power, no water, no amenities. No farmland....no agriculture...I wonder where we are all going.