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My village my town

Published : Tuesday, 8 December, 2020 at 12:00 AM  Count : 2055

My village my town

My village my town

The government has undertaken a mega project "My Village My Town: Extension of Urban Amenities to Each Village" to reduce the gap between the cities and the rural areas. The main aim of this project is to fulfil the Bangabandhu's dream of Golden Bengal by providing the essential facilities to all the villages including improved roads and communications, supply of safe and pure drinking water, modern healthcare services and proper treatment, standard education, proper sanitation and waste management, improvement of rural waterway communication, supply of power and minerals, setting-up of bio-gas plants and solar power panels, computers with high-speed internets, electrical equipment and standard consumer goods,  growth centres and markets of commodity goods, flourish cottage and other industries, bank loan for marginal and small entrepreneurs; establish amusement parks, sports and recreation centres, libraries and community spaces, agricultural equipment servicing centres and workshops, training of rural youths and entrepreneurs.

This is a very highly ambitious, diversified, complex and much-expected national development programme. The government has been taking several steps to implement this programme including the preparation of time-bound working plan, Upazila master plan and organising national workshops 'to innovate creative working strategy to face the challenges to implement the programme and creating coordinated initiatives among the related organizations.' Initially the pilot project will begin in 15 villages.

'According to sources at the Local Government Division, eight villages in eight upazilas of eight divisions and seven in selected areas (of Haor, Char, Hill, Coast, Barind, Midland beels and two adjoining economic zones) will be chosen for this programme.' LGRD minister said: "a committee has been working to this effect and the work on this project is underway".

Recently I have come across a number of interesting articles published in our national dailies regarding this programme, where many researchers, writers, academics, urban and rural planners and architects expressed their valuable comments, concerns, suggestions and recommendations. Explicitly we have to face numerous challenges in implementing this programme successfully.

The great challenge is to make an appropriate, pragmatic and sustainable plan for providing all the essential facilities suitable for a particular village to become a modern city. We can initiate our expedition from the learning of our rights and wrongs what we did in case of our existing metropolitan cities, divisional towns and district towns. We can also look around the world of 'rural development planning' as well as the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) no. 11 of the United Nations which focuses on "sustainable cities and communities."

The SDGs are great guidelines, but not a complete panacea or a one-size-fits-all solution for cities across the continents but are only the first step in addressing a city's unique advantages and disadvantages (AZ Morshed/Oct20). Each village needs to be considered based on its geographical, demographical, economic, social and cultural heritage, and potentials for future development with local resources, local strengths and local entrepreneurships.  

In Bangladesh we have lots of villages having unique characteristics. A village of fishermen requires a fish-landing centre or cold storage while a village of small cottage industries favours improved infrastructures with modern machinery and equipment. A village on the river bank essentially needs an embankment to save their lives and properties from flood while some other villages need improvement of their waterway communications. So the peculiarity of each village needs to be taken into consideration while providing other amenities mostly common to all such as electricity, digital systems, roads, markets etc. Specific needs of the villages should be incorporated into the mainstream multi-dimensional projects.

According to some urban and rural planners, an 'integrated rural planning' would be very much effective to carry out the programme efficiently where the engagement of all the stakeholders of a particular village must have to be ensured. Some of the activities of this project have already been continuing under different names or projects or departments or ministries. So there is a strong need for co-ordinating or revising or modifying or integrating some of the activities. Neighbourhood plans need to be consistent with wider local plans.

We have to evolve a system for people's participation in rural and urban planning process. The main aim of public participation is to give a sense of empowerment to the people and increase public confidence in the government. Collaborative planning intensifies consensus-building which "involves a good faith effort to meet the interests of all stakeholders" (Susskind et al., 1999), where stakeholders are individuals or groups likely to be affected by a decision.Consultations and open discussions with the general public, community groups, voluntary bodies, special interest groups, businesses, private sectors and other stakeholders also help to resolve any dispute at an early stage of planning process.

In UK, 'publicity and consultation become required components of the statutory planning system providing local people with opportunities to comment on and object to development plans and planning applications.' It gives people power and responsibility to make real choices about planning, and experience the real consequences of those choices.

We must recognise that our rural people are inherently capable of making meaningful choices as they care deeply about the look and feel by heart their places where they live in. People's participation gives communities a greater sense of ownership over decisions that make a big difference to their quality of life. The rural people have been eagerly waiting with great hopes and aspirations to see their villages equipped with modern amenities according to their own preferences.

Similar to the rural people I have been deeply touched, inspired and elated with the proposed activities of this project and would like to ask my own conscience: how do I want to see my native village? I was born and brought up at Shammanipur, Rangpur SadarUpazila and now I have been living in a small town of Gillingham, Kent, UK for the last 16 years. Gillingham was a hamlet on bank of the river Medway established in 1086. It had been named after a local warrior 'Gyllingas'.

In course of time it has become a town having all sorts of modern amenities including a tunnel under the Medway river bed, dockyard, motorways, double and single carriage ways, super markets, churches, mosques, library, country parks, sports centres, army barracks, army museum, residential hotels, schools, colleges, three universities, training centres, post offices, banks, business parks, numerous car parks, car sale centres, hospitals, doctors surgeries and treatment centres, dentists clinics, eye testing centres, healthy living centres, fitness centres, uninterrupted electricity, high speed internets, hotels and restaurants, bus services, bus stands, bus terminals, bus depots, railway stations, railway depot and workshop, football stadium and steel mills. This is a real example of turning a small village into a modern town.

Likewise I can imagine one day my native village will be transformed into a modern city with all essential amenities but without the ill-effects of cities such as traffic jams, water logging, haphazard waste, dirty air and water, slums and squatters, encroachment etc. Bangabandhu dreams the prosperity of all people and the successful implementation of this project will transform our country into a true 'Golden Bengal'
The writer is former editor,
Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh







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