Even for a column in a magazine that engages with urbanism, its contents will have to steer clear of housing, landscape, mass transit and other aspects that substantiate a city and quality of urban life when talking about Patna. With the erstwhile megalopolis as its focus, the writing is destined to meander through its frayed fabric of history, sociology, rivers and issues that are less tangible but more pervasive.
From being dubbed ‘the greatest city in the world’ by Megasthenes in 300 BC to its decrepit state until some years ago, Patna has ebbed and flowed like no other capital city in the world. When Michael Wood of the BBC declared that “To walk through Patna is like making one’s way through the Indian version of ancient Rome”, most scoffed, some were intrigued, while ‘insiders’ concurred in a hopeful sort of way. The forgotten, much-derided city is gradually making its way back to public memory through a series of development efforts and good governance.
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Patna is endowed with a unique topography, perhaps the only city in the world that straddles three large rivers – Ganga, Sone and Punpun. Water, possibly the reason behind its standing as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, is both plentiful and scarce here. Groundwater has been the main source of water supply to the city although plenty of surface water is available through the surrounding rivers. Indiscriminate extraction of groundwater through private borewells has led to the depletion of ground water levels as well as the appearance of traces of arsenic. The water supply system is all set for a complete overhaul by the year 2014 to cut losses due to leakages and to improve the quality of supply. However, the city also needs to explore preserving its water table by using surface water in conjunction with ground water.
The average elevation of Patna is only 47 m above mean sea level. The stress of its teeming population has completely disrupted the natural drainage of the city. A series of embankments on the River Punpun effectively check its waters in the south, but frequently, a spate in the River Ganga during the monsoons results in a flooded city. Its saucer-shaped topography worsens its susceptibility to flooding (but one that lends itself naturally to an effective drainage plan as well as rainwater harvesting).
Add to this predicament an ineffective and unorganised waste collection and disposable system and all too frequently the monsoons usher in chaos.
My childhood memories of Patna are full of the fragrance of my grandmother’s besan halva and the ubiquitous stench emanating from heaps of garbage, in equal measure. More recent visits to Patna have, pleasantly dispelled at least one-half of such olfactive recollections.
Also, a childhood memory is the constant indignation I experienced while noting how far ahead other contemporaneous ancient Indian cities were, in comparison. Delhi, glorious and imperial; Varanasi, pious and complex; Prayag, erudite and spiritual, to name some of the oldest.
Patna, which first finds mention around 2,600 years ago, on the other hand, has little to instil by way of history into the chance visitor. Its Agam Kuans and Kumhrars are few and far between, and in far less impressive housing than their stature deserves. However, some recent initiatives have set out to reverse this apathy.
The high-profile Patna Museum, with Fumihiko Maki at the helm, is likely to carry the rich cultural and art heritage of the region to its citizens and visitors alike. Barely 100 kilometres away, against the glorious backdrop of the Rajgir Hills, is the roposed site for Nalanda University, designed to reinstate the global status of the ancient university.
Famously discerning, the University granted admission to merely 2 of the 10 students who applied! Both buildings will follow benchmarks for sustainable development, the latter striving for a net-zero energy status through on-site generation of renewable energy. The Ganga riverfront too, is now being redeveloped under the umbrella of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) through partial funding by the World Bank. This is set to revitalise 21 ghats along a 6.5 km long promenade along the river.
The issues facing Patna are at once mundane and introspective. On the one hand, it needs to eff ectively deal with water supply, drainage, and waste disposal, and on the other, with the restoration of its ancient heritage as a seat of scholarship, good governance, and abstract religious philosophies. Fortunately, it only needs to look within for cues.
Anamika Prasad is an expert in the field of Environmental Design and Sustainability. She is the founder and director of EDS, environmental design consultants in Delhi.
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