The Malwa plateau, at the heart of which Indore is located, has historically been reputed for its ease of life, facilitated by its extremely fertile soil tilled with little effort.

Once full of water bodies, Indore has, since the 1960s however, had the dubious distinction of becoming one of the worst water-starved cities in India –– until the Narmada River came to its rescue. Today, this city has another unflattering distinction: of buying the costliest water in India: ₹18 per kilolitre of the Narmada waters.

The city has decayed over the decades, owing to reckless development, neglect and urban migration, and was crying for a makeover. Now, as one of 20 cities picked for development in the first phase under the Smart City Mission, the largest city in central India is poised to undergo a transformation that seeks to integrate heritage with modernity.

The 500-year-old city, named after an old temple of Lord Indreshwar, served as the capital of the Holkar dynasty from the early 19th century until 1948, when the royal state was merged with the Indian Union.

Its legendary, benevolent queen, Devi Ahilyabai Holkar, is worshipped as the Mother Goddess of Indore, and the city’s university, international airport and numerous institutions have all been named after her.

An educational, business, transport and medical hub, the city is home to the only stock exchange in central India: the Madhya Pradesh Stock Exchange, founded in 1919.

The commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, Indore accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the State’s tax revenues.

In preparation for the smart city makeover, it has dusted off a 100-year-old master plan, drafted by urban planner Sir Patrick Geddes. Its reprint was unveiled by Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu during the launch of the smart city project on February 13. The reprint was made possible by the efforts of a group of conscientious citizen-members of NGOs such as Nature Volunteers, Abhyas Mandal and Mahanagar Vikas Parishad.

Revisiting the master plan Like Surat and Ahmedabad in neighbouring Gujarat, Indore was in the grip of a plague in the early 20th century. In his master plan, drawn up between 1914 and 1921, Sir Patrick proposed that Indore be made a garden city and cleaned up, that its rivers be dredged, and its sanitation facilities improved. He also favoured a massive tree-planting drive and the creation of large open spaces, rather than developing the city vertically.

Indore is the only Indian city to have both an IIT and an IIM. A number of blue-chip companies have come forward to be knowledge partners, free of cost, in sectors like education (Symbiosis and Educom) and health (Medanta and Apollo).

These companies have offered smart solutions, making their own presentation on how the new-look smart city of Indore would look like.

Corporate engagement A dozen IT companies, including Microsoft, Cisco, Infosys and IBM, have also chipped in, offering solutions to address the city’s drinking water, electricity supply and sanitation needs.

A smart city is expected to usher in ease of life, provide solutions in citizens’ hands –– on a mobile phone, online, or at their doorsteps. The Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC), founded in 1870, plans to provide digitised smart solutions in areas like water supply, sewerage, public transport, and e-governance.

The pan-city initiatives are centred around the establishment of a ‘backbone communication network’, an intelligent transportation system, and intelligent waste management.

Rajwada redevelopment Under the Area-Based Development model, some 742 acres, centred around the erstwhile Holkar palace Rajwada ( pictured at left ), will undergo retrofit-cum-redevelopment .

The Rajwada area is home to 1.2 lakh people, including 29,000 slum-dwellers. There are plans for development of roads and junction, multi-level parking, multi-modal transportation, pedestrianisation and non-motorisation of roads by creating no-vehicle zones, heritage conservation and promotion of tourism, environmental upgradation and green open spaces, redevelopment of public roads, employment generation centres, upgraded water supply and management, said Hitendra Mehta, Partner, Mehta & Associates, whose firm drafted the Smart City Proposal for Indore (as well as for Jabalpur).

Indore is situated on the banks of two tributaries of the Kshipra River –– Saraswati and Kanh ( pictured below right ) –– which will be redeveloped as a riverfront tourist attraction. The city is famous for its mouth-watering delicacies, and food hubs like Sarafa Bazar will undergo a total transformation. The proposed redevelopment hub, the dilapidated government employees’ residential colony, known as the Majesty’s Official Guards’ Lines (MOG Lines), will be the new upscale business-cum-residential district.

For implementation of this ambitious plan, IMC, whose budget estimates for the 2016-17 fiscal are ₹2,131 crore, will shortly set up a special purpose vehicle. After completion, the project will be handed over to the Corporation, said Mehta.

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