Climate literate and climate-proof, these two words and ideas associated with them were tossed about at a roundtable on “Cities on the River — Preparing for Climate Change” by Murad Qureshi, member, London Assembly and chair, London Waterways Commission (LWC), on Wednesday, held significantly in the floating hotel at Calcutta jetty.
The roundtable, organised by the Centre for Social Markets (CSM) and Intach, also discussed lessons to be learnt from the development of London, and although not all the solutions worked out by the UK capital apply to Calcutta, the urgent need to revive the Hooghly waterfront was understandably stressed once again.
Some of the six objectives of the mayor’s London Plan hold true for this city too — to accommodate growth without encroaching on open spaces, to tackle deprivation and discrimination and to improve London’s accessibility.
London’s Blue Ribbon Network covers the Thames, canals, tributaries, streams and rivers with the city and docks, reservoirs and lakes, and it is LWC’s job to keep the mayor informed about these.
LWC also brings together main agencies dealing with waterways. This city with its riverfront in the clutches of its sole landholder, Calcutta Port Trust, which is indifferent to its revival, and its network of silted canals, is crying out for such a body that can connect, coordinate and bring about a change.
Most exciting are the plans for the regeneration of the site — now derelict — for the 2012 Olympics in east London. The Olympic Park will cover 690 acres and the waterways around Stratford connected to the Thames — including the rivers Lee and Bowback — will be resuscitated to move supplies and freight.
“We have managed to parcel the land together. The mayor’s policy is to provide 50 per cent social housing,” said Qureshi, who is originally from Sylhet and visits Calcutta and Delhi regularly.
While many of the plans he elaborated on — such as the new London sewerage tunnel and the Thames barrier, a flood control structure — may sound far-fetched for a city and the state facing a perennial dearth of funds, some of the problems London faces due to rising groundwater and annual fluctuations in rainfall — drought one year, floods the next — hold important lessons for Calcutta.
The Ganga Action Plan has not improved the quality of river water but it has arrested its deterioration, stressed environmentalist Arunabha Majumdar in his address.
When London sizzled and temperatures shot up to 40 degree Celsius, railroads started expanding. As global temperatures begin to rise, more concrete, steel and glass structures will add to the heat, said Malini Mehra, CEO, CSM. Similarly, tarmac on tram tracks can have a disastrous effect.
