In a double honour for Madhya Pradesh, Indore has been ranked as the cleanest city in India, followed by Bhopal, the capital. Indore got this honour for the second time in a row from the Union urban affairs ministry. The Indore district holds a very significant place in the growth of Madhya Pradesh as it contributes nearly 35 per cent of the state’s GDP. What Mumbai is to India, Indore is to Madhya Pradesh.
Though a tier-two city, Indore has always been the number one city in central India catering to the needs of the high and mighty. Indore is one among the nine big cities of India having the fastest growth in terms of GDP.
When Indore was ranked as the cleanest city of the country on Wednesday, the credit was officially given to the efforts of the municipal corporation. However, its former commissioner, Manish Singh, who was transferred a month back, has no second thought in saying “It is the urban mindset of the local people and the rich legacy, which helped us achieve this.” Singh, during his three-year stint, ensured smooth functioning of the urban amenities and cleaning system.
Acting as an axis between the political functionaries and huge employee base, Singh introduced many innovations in the city where the first master plan of was prepared in 1917 by Patrick Geddes, a Scottish biologist, who excelled as a town planner.
The city was the first to start a BRTS system in 2007 even before it was started in Ahmedabad in 2009. “We in Indore are ready to adopt anything thing that is new and good for us. We never hesitate in adopting new ways of 'development',” says Abhay Shahasrabuddhe, an entrepreneur in organic food and farming.
When Singh became municipal commissioner of Indore three years back, he had already served in the same capacity in Bhopal. “It was a kind of challenge to us to bring back the municipal services on track. Though the city invited an investment of over Rs 18,000 crore, yet the people were unhappy of the civic amenities. The property prices were stagnant. All these issues were a concern for the government, which wanted to showcase Indore as a model city,” says Singh, who is now posted as collector of Ujjain.
In 2014, Indore was on the 149th place in the cleanliness ranking of Indian cities. In 2015, it reached the 25th position and came to the top in 2017, snatching the honour from Mysuru. This year, it retained the title.
Indore has a census population of some 27 lakh, but it has grown to some 35 lakh in last few years. Out of these, 3-5 lakh is a 'floating' population. Divided into 19 municipal zones, the municipal limit area is spread in an area of 275km, which generates more than 800 tons of garbage every day.
After the cleanliness drive and campaigns in schools and among the public, spitting in open has reduced to around 50 per cent, says Singh. “Our machines don’t have to go cleaning the walls of the city as they used to do earlier; we have made the city dustbin free as our door-to-door collection of garbage and segregation at the generation point has reached near-perfection level,” he said.
The municipal corporation has a huge army of over 13,500 employees who were divided into six labour unions that obstructed the regular work on various occasions. “We have merged all the six unions and terminated some 90 employees who created problems.”
Absence of toilets was a big reason for open defecation. More than 15,000 houses did not have toilets. In one year, more than 12,500 individual toilets, 200 urinals and 190 public toilets were made under the sanitation drive.
In order to segregate the garbage at the point of collection, colour-coded dustbins were used to dispose of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste separately. Special compost pits were made at the vegetable market, which resulted in cleanliness and production of manure for city gardens.
Singh says “Unlike other newly developed cities, people here have feeling of ownership. During our campaign for public awareness, which included paintings and murals on walls and arranging for skits, the best was ‘Roko-Toko’ initiative. This was started by a group of schoolchildren who used to start beating metal boxes loudly if they saw someone defecating in the open. This became a kind of movement and then people on their own formed such groups.”
Indore is among the top 10 fastest-growing cities of the country because it has all the positives to its side. The rich cotton soil of Malwa, proximity to river Narmada for water supply, connectivity from all sides, a rich friendly culture and a cosmopolitan character developed over the years.
The mindset of people of Indore is considered very business friendly and that is the reason why all industries and businesses coming to Madhya Pradesh decide to anchor here, says Hitendra Mehta. Mehta, an architect and city planner, was instrumental in getting a super corridor laid on the outskirts of city, so that companies like Infosys and TCS did not think twice of before investing here.
“We have worked on the principle of transit-oriented development principle and land value capturing, which has helped bring in maximum number of individual and institutional investors,” says Mehta.
He says “The city has the potential to develop manifold as this the only city in central India, which has carried forward its traditional values and architecture with modern day requirements.” The legacy of planned development since 1917 is being carried successfully by various government agencies till date, he said.
Declared a special economic zone (SEZ) in 2005 by the UPA government, Indore first came to prominence in 1724 when it came under control of Baji Rao Peshwa and became a major trading hub between the Deccan Empire and Delhi. Spread over 530 square kilometres, the town served as capital of Madhya Bharat before 1956. Apart from being declared one of the cleanest cities of India, it also got a place among the first 100 smart city projects of the Union government.
Rajesh Johri, a scholar and writer, says, “The biggest advantage of the city is that it does not have any organized gangs like other metros. After 1990, there are no goondas left.” This has helped the city to grow into an educational hub. The peaceful surroundings and availability of basic amenities without any struggle of a big city has attracted students and teachers alike to develop the place as a major coaching centre of Madhya Pradesh.
Known for its automobile, textile, pharmaceutical and education industries, the city hosts both an IIT and IIM, a rare combination for any place. It is the only city in Madhya Pradesh that hosts Indian Premier League matches.
Pithampur industrial area is part of Indore investment zone. It is spread in an area of 372 square kilometres. Once called the Detroit of India (now that tag is with Chennai) for its automobile industries, Pithampur now has The National Automotive Test Tracks (NATRAX). This is one of the largest testing track facilities, spread in an area of 4,140 acres of land, and has global importance. The oval 4-lane high-speed track of 13.6km can test vehicles for a neutral speed of 250kmph on curves. The track will test the maximum speed, acceleration, brakes, efficiency, noise, vibration, handling, stability and other parameters.
In addition to Pithampur, in a 50km radius of Indore, stands Dewas where companies like Tata, Kirloskar, Arvind Mills, Ranbaxy and John Deere have their manufacturing units. Also called the soya capital of India for its soyabean processing plants, the place also houses Bank Note press. Apart from Dewas, the historical town of Ujjain is also just 56km away. It has many establishments of the Birla group. There are over a dozen industrial areas in and around Indore.
Gautam Kothari, president of Pithampur Industries Association, says, “We are ahead not because of government support but because of the enterprise of our people. Indore is self-developed.” “Our industries and businesspeople took full advantage of Mumbai, which was the nearest port. The proximity to Mumbai and adopting its business culture got us the name ‘Mini Bombay’.”
Kothari says, “Government has always proved to be a roadblock in free development of industry and commerce in this region. One IPS officer demolished the flourishing pharmaceutical industry of Indore, when the official started raiding units on flimsy grounds. This brought a bad name to the Indore pharma business and the whole industry crumbled.”
He says, “before independence, it was the Holkars who developed the city. In the 1860s, spinning mills were transported on elephant backs and a rail line was laid.” Madhya Pradesh Stock Exchange (MPSE), originally set up in 1919, is the only exchange in central India and the third oldest stock exchange in India.
The cloth market of Indore recently completed 150 years. The first cotton mill of Indore was set up in 1866, just 12 years after the first such mill in India. The first such mill in India was the Bombay Spinning Mill, which was opened in 1854 in Mumbai.
With more than 2,500 shops, the cloth market of Indore is one of the biggest in India after Surat. The market was at its peak before 1960 when there were 11 cotton mills in the town, which used to spin cloth for whole of central and eastern India minus Calcutta. Even today, 35 per cent of ladies' salwar-kurtas and leggings are manufactured and sold from this market, according to Johri.
Shahasrabuddhe says, “We have one of the best and largest food varieties in the country at a very low cost.” The Chappan-Dukan shopping complex and Sarafa Market in the city are famous as a gastronomic delight.
He says “Indore is headquarters of Malwa. Malwa is known for its rich culture and food. The saying pag-pag roti, dag-dag neer (every step, there is food and water in Malwa) originated from this land.” Indore is a self-growing city it does not depend on government or leaders for its growth, he said.
Hansraj Jain, president of Indore Cloth Market Association, says “Indore has immense potential to reinvent itself. When the cloth mills were closed three decades back, our market immediately turned into a distributor market. Today, we supply garments and clothes as far as Nepal, Rajasthan, Andhra, Gujarat and Mahrashtra.”
He says, “the growth of city had an equal partner with government. We have always matched the steps of Central and state government for the development of city.”
Indore is called ‘Mini Bombay’ not for its business enterprises but for the traits of people, which matches the people of Mumbai. Indore's capacity to mould in the new environment and its inherent nature to become a melting pot of various communities of central India makes Indore the most sought-after city in central India. That is why Infosys and TCS chose Indore as their next destination after Bangalore.