kolkata the urban sprawl around kolkata has expanded at a pace faster than expected but has the development been inclusive and planned to a t the answer is an obvious noon the eastern fringes of the city new town paints a perfect picture of what a haphazard boom lead to while new town proper has a wellplanned utility network drainage drinking water supply power supply in place the situation is just the oppostie beyond the action area there are spas swimming pools beauty salons and gyms but no proper roads to tread on to reach to the gates of swanky highrises one has to negotiate dirt tracks that worsen during the rains with no proper drainage and wastedisposal system in place bishnupur i continues to survive in the shadow of glitzy multistoried buildings moreover lack of ecological appreciation of urban landscapes plays havoc with biodiversity of the place sudden disappearance of greenery is causing an irreparable damage said sudipto bhattacharya of saviour and friend of environmentthe sudden metamorphosis of the area from being a mufassil to ultraurban conurbation goes against the nature of the place the demand and supply scenario of these housings is such that there would be a natural tendency of creation of new slum areas ie habitation in degraded environmental conditions townplanning expert sourav sen said on the effect of urban sprawl on human habitation on urban fringesthis is a new societal imbalance happening around urban sprawl said sociologist pradip chakraborty the mismatch gives rise to a mismatch of aspirations the sudden rise in cost of living causes a hardship so a bad blood exists which finds a vent in case of an accident or a mishap he addedif you watch the citys urban sprawl it is aggressively and steadily encroaching upon fertile multicrop agrarian land since bengal lacks agrobased industry agriculture for a farmer becomes unsustainable the urban sprawl is far aggressive and farreaching than land acquisitions like it happened at nandigram said agriculture expert anupam pal if such urban sprawl cannot be stopped there will be a food crisis said expertsthere is a method in the madness an agrarian lowlying land exchanges hand it is declared a wasteland then the conversion begins at the block land and land revenue office filling up the land ensues shortly and it is now ready for construction said a land tout at rajarhaatwhat is worse is the growth of urban slum around urban conurbation lack of land use pattern led to mushrooming growth of buildings sans proper road layouts drainage open spaces all these become a recipe for disaster leading to more traffic more carbon emissions and more smog but it isnt inevitable it is often the result of poor planning and shortsightedness said urban planning expert monideep chatterjee