Before viksit-ing India, save our cities

Social media had a field day last week as Delhi-NCR - Gurgaon in particular - collapsed yet again under incessant rains. Gurgaon, the poster boy of urban dysfunction and in many ways a mirror of India itself, turned into a cruel parody: flooded roads running alongside gleaming glass towers, lux apartments marooned in knee-deep water, and corporate hubs transformed into islands. The downpour stripped away the Potemkin Village facade, showing how easily cosmetic planning gets washed down the drain.

But set aside the rain and waterlogging for a moment. On an ordinary day, getting from Point Viksit A to Point Viksit B in many Indian cities is punishing. Not just because roads are a choke and public transport is a joke, but because roads are designed to fail. The culprit isn't hard to find: a bureaucracy-construction lobby that fattens itself by churning out shoddy infra, thriving on a mindless 'build, build, build' mantra. The consequences are no longer occasional inconveniences; they are systemic breakdowns. With cities that are urban heat traps and wet islands, this 'business model' has become less about development and more about dysfunction. It is a disaster blueprint that needs to be upended.

GoI has now sought feedback from states and UTs on key policy initiatives aimed at supporting infrastructure development and coordinated urban planning along national highways, which are feeders of many of these cities. This is a welcome step. But it can't be yet another paper exercise. Urban decongestion is not just about drawing up plans. It's about ensuring those plans are foolproof, implementable, and executed with uncompromising quality. Because, without quality, the next flood or traffic jam will peel away the facade all over again.