Urban planning
I read the excellent articles by Ranjit Hoskote on our "Embattled cities" and Vijayshree Venkatraman's on "Iconic cities and melting pot" (Magazine, September 18). Time and again nature has shown superiority over man's cruel and greedy interference with it. The same happened to our ancient cities on which we walk today. We as citizens should learn lessons from these examples and promote advocacy in planning process, which is very important for a country like ours. Having lived in Bangalore for nearly two decades I can see that this city of "valleys and lakes" is heading for a situation much worse than Mumbai unless the citizens do something about it. It is unfortunate that the architects of the city have not voiced their concerns for the CDP which was prepared by a French team of planners who have limited knowledge of the Indian city as a living organism.
Jaffer A.A. Khan,
By e-mail
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The heart-rending photograph showing the SOS message for food and water, written over the roof-top of a flooded house at New Orleans, USA is a shocking revelation of the delay in relief measures reaching individuals in the affected locations, despite helicopters hovering and air-dropping relief materials. Obviously the administrators there lack dedicated supportive manpower.
Dr. A.S. Adikesavan,
Chennai
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