Bhopal: Smart city project at TT Nagar runs into opposition

BHOPAL: The Smart city project at TT Nagar has run into opposition from residents, traders and religious bodies The Smart City is being developed on 342 acres, however the total land is not in its possession. It is claimed that 90 acres of the under development belong to private parties including religious bodies.

Not only traders, but even residents and office bearers of the religious places like temples and Gurdwaras are also opposed to the development work on their properties.

 In the near future, the people residing in the area and those carrying out their business would be asked to shift to other places as the work on the development project would start. However, they are not willing and want the authorities to alter and redesign the project after a detailed survey.  The livelihood of around 10,000 people is now at stake due to the proposed development works.

A few traders, who were made to shift in the first phase, are willing to return claiming huge business loss in new areas. Similarly, management committees of temples and gurudwara are apprehensive about the fate of the religious structures owing to the development works in the area. The areas falling under the development project stretches from Jawahar Chowk to Platinum Plaza.

An office bearer of Chitragupt temple Vijay Pradhan, said the authorities have not yet cleared anything about the development projects around the religious structures. If during the course of development work, a portion of these religious sites has to be removed then who would be responsible for it, he asked. We would not let the development work continue in this manner, he added.

Sharad Yadav, an office bearer of Arya Samaj  temple said if the authorities continue the development work as per the proposed map, it will affect the temples around the area.  The Smart City needs to redesign their plan to ensure that no religious site is disturbed in future, said Yadav.

Rakesh Jain, former corproator said the traders and private property owners who number over 10,000 will suffer due to the unsystematic development plan of the smart city.

The officials of Smart City did not take into confidence the local traders and shifted a few shops elsewhere, said Jain.  They will repeat it in future also and randomly bulldoze the shops and buildings as the development work catches pace, but this time we will hold protests and approach the court, added Jain.

The residents are demanding revision of the map so that the land that is now under ownership of smart city and has religious places, shops and houses be spared, said the ex-corporator.

The traders too echoed the same view saying that the Smart City should change the proposed development design and spare the land owned by private parties.

Authorities to take locals into confidence: CEO

Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Limited (BSCDCL) CEO Aditya Singh said that traders are in touch with the administration and every future development will be done after detailed discussions with locals, and under guidance of top officials. The proposals and suggestions of the traders are with the Smart City and every important point will be taken into consideration for the development, he added.