What Kanpur wants

KANPUR: As the 206-year old city of Kanpur goes to vote on April 30, TOI tried to find out the issues that will shape the voters's mind and determine the voting pattern on D-day.
The pre-dominant issues picked up by noted town-planners and expert policy makers included improving transport infrastructure, which includes better trunk roads, solid waste management, shifting the location of industries, renovating old water pipelines, repair of broken sewerage drains, redevelopment of slums on the lines of Mumbai, improving basic services in slums etc.
While education sector is blossoming in the city, jobs have been disappearing. The number of registrations for vehicles has gone up in the city, but where are the proper roads?
Residents of Kanpur -- from industrialists to the middle class -- disclosed issues close to their hearts which affect their day-to-day lives and will motivate them to come out to vote on April 30.
A -- Industries
Kanpur has large number of industries of which leather, textile, jute and chemical industries are predominant. Within the last five years, several big names like Duncan and LML have closed shop. About 50 medium-sized industries relocated their production base outside the city as they got better facilities there.
There are about 5,000 big, medium and MSME (Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises) industries in the city which employ about 4 lakh persons.
The industrialists feel that the sector has been neglected and though total revenue generation stands out at a huge Rs 8,000 crore, out of which 2,500 crore comes through tanneries, the promotion and development of industries has not been up to the mark.
B -- Electricity
In the last five years, the number of sub-stations increased from 41 to 66 and number of consumers went up from 4.2 lakh to 4.8 lakh. The number of transformers went up from 2,078 to 3,456 but still power rostering takes place with no power supply for hours and frequent line losses. Kesco, the main body has been running into losses for years and in 2008, it suffered a line loss of 1,100 Mw.
C -- Health
The official sanctioned strength of doctors in the city is 324 and the norm says that 1 doctor should be there for a population of 10,000 but in comparison the city has just 1 doctor for a population of 20,000. About 7.52 lakh patients visited OPD in 2008. Besides, Kanpurites have more faith in the medical facilities available at Delhi and Lucknow.
D -- Water supply
With the rapid urbanisation, industrial development and steep growth in population, the demand of water has increased manifold. The total water supply requirement of the city is estimated to be 550 mld but only 395 mld of potable water is being supplied by Kanpur Jal Sansthan. The total supply from treatment plants is about 255 mld water (210 mld raw water from Bhaironghat pumping station and 45 mld from the Lower Ganga Canal) and approximately 130 mld water is drawn from groundwater comprising 80 mld from tube wells (about 135) and 50 mld from handpumps (about 9,830). But even then there is a huge gap in the required amount and the actual water supply in the city.
E -- Pollution
There are as many as 5,500 industries. Further, there are 367 leather industries located along the river Ganga. About 42.5 per cent of the total water requirement is met from surface water resources of the river Ganga and the Lower Ganga Canal while the balance is received from ground water. Chromium, a highly toxic water pollutant has been found in the water supplied and has been affecting lives of lakhs of residents in the city. Apart from that the air and noise pollution in the city is well beyond the permissible level.
F -- Slum dwellers
As per the KNN estimates, the slum population in the city is about 5 lakh persons, which constitutes about 20 per cent of the population. As per the DUDA estimates, over 60 per cent of the slum dwellers are below poverty line. Various efforts are being made for urban poverty alleviation and slum improvement such as VAMBAY, UBSP, DUDA-SIFSA Scheme, Nehru Rojgar Yojana, NSDP, SJSRY, etc but to no avail.
G -- Weather effect
This one although not an issue but does surely affect the voter turnout at polling booths. The data available with Election Commission says that whenever elections have taken place during winter, the average voter turnout has been over 50 per cent while in summers it has dwindled to between 44% to 48%. In last Lok Sabha elections held during summers, the voter turnout was 48 per cent but in 1999 when it took place during cooler months, it was 54 per cent.