AGARTALA, April 6 (TIWN): ARPAN-Siciety, which is recognized as a non-profit assemblage of academicians’ since 2003, has prepared a City Developmental planning for Agartala. When the central govt is funding the states for smart city projects, this action plan to blueprint Capital city’s design.

(ARPAN, The organization is predominantly conducting research and lobbying for implementation of development plans for betterment of the society. ARPAN has been working in Tripura for last 15 years with remarkable achievements as Winning PIL on strengthening better public transport system, Social audit of Panchayat Raj institutions and Telecommunication services in Tripura, Survey on Building Synergies, Matching Business Reform, mapping of potential child labour dominated areas of Tripura etc).

Earlier, ARPAN also proposed for building construction planning, to battle the earthquake hazards in the state.

The Secretary of the Arpan Society, Biswendu Bhattacharjee has proposed the following vision-map for a smart city :

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT : Plastic Waste Management (PWM) along with the management of the whole Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) that the city generates every day is becoming a big ailment.Plain dumping of the waste in the outskirts, or composting or land-filling have ceased to be any feasible solutions here. Green Technologies may be one option that can convert the waste to tangible assets and/or Power.

Feasibility of Waste to Energy (W2E) in Agartala is huge. Some survey based findings by ARPAN is given below:

 1. The total MSW generated or collected in the Agartala Municipal Council area: ~ 200 MT/day

2. Portion that is non-segregated plastic waste: 6%-7%, which makes it 12-14 MT/day

3. AMC spends around INR 3.5 Million in cash + Overhead = ~ INR 7 million per month

4. With the 14 MT of plastic, at the bare minimum 6300 Litres of diesel in addition with otherslag can be obtained every day, total market price of which is INR 283500.00, which meansper month INR 8.5 Million of revenue could be generated. The above output data isaccording to a Chinese company that produces cheap plants.This gives a straight 1.5 Million rupees profit per month, nearly enough to run the rest of theMunicipality.

 5. The plant installation cost is around 10 Million INR of working capital plus 12 Million per yearas overhead and staff expenses together.

6. Setting up of project may need 8-9 months, then the project reaches Break Even on the 24th month.

7. From the 25th month, it will actually start returning profit @ 0.5 Million a month, apart fromcleaning up Agartala completely.

ENFORCEMENT AGAINST LITTERING:  

1. Set up plastic recycle industry and add value to the plastic waste;

2. Encourage the alternatives of plastic items like jute and paper made bags etc,

3.  Impose heavy fine on the littering of plastic waste in the drain or non-designated place;

4. Strengthen enforcement against littering of waste

5. Ensure cent percent collection of waste from the home by municipal authority,

WATER LOGGING IN AGARTALA :  Littering of waste in the drains by households and patty shops including street vendors are one of the important reasons of chalking of storm water drains followed by no cleaning and desalting of the drains.  

Compound to the collapse of drainage system, a large number of water bodies and ponds in and around Agartala were filled up in last 10 years that affect the water holding capacity of Agartala. The ground water recharge system is substantially reduced due to concretisation of land surface in the city.  

The small city like Agartala required having roof top rainwater harvesting mandatory at least forØ the big public buildings to arrest the run off flow into the drain and rivers. If rainwater (run off) of big buildings like Rabindra Bhawan, Sukanta Academy, City centre and all other shopping complexes is harvested that reduce to water flow. Also in this places water is mostly use for toilet flushing and gardening, which rain water can play a big role and reduce to pressure on pipe drinking water.  

Rainwater harvesting structure of any construction more than 3000 sqft has to be madeØ mandatory at least in Agartala.  

Adequate manholes in all the cover drains needs to be created for quarterly cleaning of drains.

 Encroachment of drains and water bodies mostly in old city area of Agartala has to be freeØ immediately and ensure free flow of sewerage and water.

FLOOD MANAGEMENT APPROACH:

Corrections in meandering

1. Redesigning of the embankments and raising of the height of embankment by at least two meters.

2. Side slopes of embankment to be maintained (min 1:2)

3. Cutting of embankment should be dealt as a culpable offense

4. Filter media to be placed in weep holes of embankment

5. Toe protection of embankment 6. Slope pitching with filter &jharries

7. Dredging the entire stretch of Haora River from Chandrasadhupara to Bangladesh border to increase free flow of river.

 8. Removal of all obstructions like temporary bridge, net, barrier etc from both side of embankments

 9. Raising levels of all utility services passing across the flow 10. Regular collection of debris from river

11. Plantation at upstream of Haora River

12. Rehabilitation of unauthorized habitants between embankment and Haora River and between embankment and Katakhal. Imposed ban on further settlement in both bank of Haora River and Katakhal. All encroachments and settlement of left bank of Haora River to be removed and no change in land use pattern of river catchment area are allowed further.

 13. Rehabilitation of unauthorized habitants along left bank of Haora

14. Restriction on any construction up to certain width subject to availability of land along the other banks including any rise in ground level

15. Removal of all trees from both side of embankments and planting of selected species for protection of soil where river water & embankment is merged,

16. Plantation at source of all tributaries of Haora River

 17. Reservoirs need to be constructed on the major tributaries of Haora River 17.1. Storage dam on river Haora upstream of the existing R.C.C Bridge near Champak Nagar (Haora Dam Project, Champak Nagar) 17.2. Storage dam on river Bordai Cherra (Bordoal) upstream of the existing R.C.C. bridge near Champak Nagar 17.3. Storage dam on river Champai Cherra 2 km downstream of Champaibari (Champai Cherra Dam Project, Champaibari) 17.4. Storage dam on river Dhonai Cherra near Dhonakbari 17.5. Storage dam on river Manikunja Cherra near Baidyabari 17.6. Storage on Sishima River 17.7. Storage on Ghoramara Cherra River Bank 17.8. Storage on Deotamura Cherra 17.9. Storage on Bangeswar Gang

18. Rehabilitation program of human settlement vacating the areas spreading over NH 44 to Haora River from Khayerpur bazar to Channdrapur

 19. Free flowing of river water from Haora River to eastern side through the box culverts (12-15 nos) constructed on the NH 44 between Khayerpur bazaar and Kashipur. Finally this water will be in Katakhal inundating the agriculture land

20. No change in land use pattern of this Agricultural land is permissible any more

21. Stop dumping of garbage on Haora River and it's embankment. 22. No vehicle should be allowed to move on the embankment.

Drainage in central zone 1. All weep holes are to be protected with filter media 2. All feeder drains are to be provided with strainer at entry to main drains to arrest solid waste 3. Redesigning the entire drainage system of Agartala city maintaining proper slope for free flowing 4. Man holes and spouts for surface water need to be well protected to arrest solid waste. 5. Regular cleaning of drains need to be ensured 6. Resurfacing and up gradation of road surfaces with proper camber is /are need of the hour 7. Outlets are to be at such level to ensure uninterrupted flow 8. All drainage pumps are need to be supported by diesel pumps 9. Removal of all obstructions like temporary bridges, net, barrier etc. 10. Raising levels of all utility services passing across the flow 11. Dredging of main/covered drains has to be done on regular interval 12. Calendar for cleaning need to be evolved and monitored strictly 13. All water bodies need to be managed including regular de-siltation. No pond/ water body in Agartala Municipal area be allowed to fill up 14. More water bodies are to be created at downstream 15. High power pumping stations be set up over main drains to dispose flood water to Haora and Katakhal 16. Effluent treatment plant at Golchakkar be materialized at the earliest 17. Unauthorized occupation over drains be strictly prohibited - existing encroachment has to be removed.

TRAFFIC CONGESTION Unplanned growth, encroachment of road space by individuals for commercial purposes are the main reasons of traffic congestion in a large part of Agartala. The people of the city lost their basic right to walk. Illegal encroachment and parking in front of Sherwali sweets in L N Bari Road, Bazar Kolkata in Central Road, Big Bazar in Post Office Chowmuhani, Bazar India at Jackson Gate and Aparupa Bakery in A K Road by those establishments have created major inconvenience for the city dwellers. Unauthorised road side markets in Lake Chowmuhani, Math Chowmuhani, Bijoy Kumar Chowmuhani and Abhoynagar bridege are also created major obstacles for traffic and pedestrian movements. Entire footpaths in the both side from Ashram Chowmuhani to Battala is totally occupied by the established businessmen and do not allow people to walk. Similarly, H G B Road, A K Road, L N Bari Road (Ker Chowmuhani to Purbasa) and Fire Brigade to Durga Chowmuhani are completely encroached for individual benefits but AMC authority did not pay any attention. The sudden unchecked growth of paddle rickshaw, Tom Tom, auto, motor bikes and personal cars become major occupants of the road space because of inadequate regulation. Unauthorised parking in road side made the life terrible and mobility of the city becomes less than 3 kilometres per hour that caused massive pollution and congestion besides public inconvenience. Immediate corrective measures in coordinated way by AMC, Police and Traffic can solve the problems easily and city life can be more comfortable and descent.

PARKING POLICY : Parking Policy is considered to be the backbone of traffic management system of any city where the citizens will be treated as main stake holders in implementation of the Policy. The Parking Policy has to be influenced and designed with specific strategies, which should not annoy the drivers and riders of the private vehicles as well as pedestrians.

Free Parking Cluster Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) is required to designate cluster wise free parking zone to encourage the people to make it a habit.

Traffic Enforcement Mechanism : About 250 trained traffic personnel have to be dedicated to AMC for managing street and restore mobility in the city. Besides, signalling personnel in existing traffic points, a vigilant group of Khaki dressed light armed police is required to be deployed in all the city points and squares to restore normalcy of road management of vehicles including pedestrians. Instead of panellizing, city traffic has to be encouraged to go for legal action against each and every violation. All the traffic personnel of the state have to be sent to metro cities for hand on training for managing traffic and empowered them to take punitive action against any traffic rule violator including pedestrians.

The ARPAN society also gave details about 1) Policy for Tri-Cycle Rickshaw, 2) Rickshaw fair, 3) Rickshaw stands, 4) Policy for all kinds of vehicles.

There was also an “ACTION PLAN ON PREVENTION OF LOSS OF LIVES AND PROPERTIES IN EARTHQUAKE”.