Study of Kolhapur impact of growing population, backs merger

KOLHAPUR: Researchers studying the city's population growth have concluded that extending the civic limits of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation will help with better development and growth.
K C Ramotra, who recently retired from the geography department of Shivaji University, and B K Swami, head of the geography department of Kagal-based D R Mane college, have published a research paper about the city's population growth and highlighted the need for merging the fringe villages.
They have suggested merging 17 villages and remarked that the city be incorporated in list of smart cities for its development since it has the environment and potential. Ramotra has also suggested merging all villages in a periphery of 1.5 km to ensure sustainable growth of the area.
"If the 17 villages within a distance of 1km from the civic boundary are merged with the KIMC's limits as proposed by the development committee, the city's population right now will be above 7.5 lakh. This will also facilitate extension of its geographical area for its future development planning," say Ramotra and Swami in their research paper, which was recently published in the Indian Journal of Applied Research.
The researchers have commented that Kolhapur has the potential to grow and develop considering its foundry, automobile and engineering businesses and IT industry which can further boost its economy. "For this, it needs to strengthen rail connectivity and establish air connectivity with other major cities in the country," says their paper
Stressing on the need for extending the civic boundaries, the research paper states that the city's area has not changed from 66.82 sq km in 1971 and this is one of the barriers for development.
The paper mentions that the wards Vicharemal, Daulat Nagar, Kholkhandoba, Padmaraje Udyan, Yadav Nagar and Shukrawar Gate have been identified as areas with the highest density of population (above 600 people per hectare) while 39 wards have lower density of population with 150 people per hectare and lag in terms of development.
Ramotra and Swami have also predicted the city's population growth to 611,600 in 2021, 681,300 in 2031 and 758,800 in 2041 in the given normal conditions.
This issue of merging the surrounding 42 villages with the city commenced in 1989. On July 11, 2001, 25 villages were excluded from the 42 and in August 2014, the then chief minister stayed the merger of 17 villages. Thereafter, the urban development department rejected the proposal and the municipal corporation passed a resolution proposing the merger of 18 villages and two industrial areas. "Once these villages become a part of the KMC, the city's population will be enhanced and accordingly, funding to the civic body will be increased for its development," states the paper.
"Through this paper, we wanted to study the impact of the population density increasing in a few places and the stress on the city population due to the lack of geographical growth. There is an urgent to need to address the geographical growth of Kolhapur, without which the city's development may be affected," said Ramotra.
According to him, the population in the fringe villages is largely dependent on the KMC for basic amenities and it is ultimately in their benefit to be a part of the civic body. "I am aware of the local politics, however, the decision should be taken considering long-term development," he added.