Posted
22 October 2002 @ 8 AM

Tagged
generic

5 Comments

Counter Magnet Cities

How do you reduce the almost magnetic attraction that rural folks have towards the big metropolises? Use counter magnets! Counter Magnets are cities specially developed to reduce the mass migration of people to big cities. Like Navi Mumbai, which was planned as a counter magnet to Mumbai. Then yesterday, Counter Magnet Gwalior(M.P.) was launched. Gwalior has put heavy focus on developing IT with lots of IT firms committing to set up shops in Gwalior. It is part of the planned NCR surrounding Delhi. The other 4 counter magnets to Delhi are Kota (Rajasthan), Bareilly (U. P.), Hissar (Haryana) and Patiala (Punjab). Likewise other planned counter magnet cities in India are Mysore(Bangalore), NIKIDA(Lucknow) and Anandgarh(Punjab). This idea of 'balanced development' is followed in many countries around the world already and seriously considered in many.

5 Comments (closed)

Posted by
Nilesh

23 October 2002 @ 6 PM

I think the image is slowly changing. People now think Navi Mumbai as hep! I personally know many people who have shifted from posh suburbs in Mumbai like Vile Parle and Bandra, to Navi Mumbai! The fact that lots of movies are shot in and around NM proves that it has become the destination for many. It being a planned city, I too find it better moving around in Navi Mumbai.

Posted by
Mahesh Shantaram

24 October 2002 @ 1 AM

Do you live here or nearby? Let's meet up sometime. Especially since I'm going to have all the time in the world very soon.

Posted by
Nilesh

24 October 2002 @ 1 AM

I stay at Mulund East. A 5 min ride to Airoli. I have a few friends in Vashi and also have my recently moved office on the Thane Belapur road [DAKC]. I surely don't mind meeting up sometime, in Vashi. I missed the bloggers' meet which I was keen on attending. :(

Posted by
Mahesh Shantaram

22 October 2002 @ 6 PM

I happen to be a Navi mumbai resident and so I identify with this post. People living in counter magnet cities will always feel like they're in the shadow of their more fortunate city-dwelling companions. For example, 'true' Mumbaikars look down upon Navi Mumbai as being some village in the backside of nowhere. The same people travel in crawling traffic everyday from Andheri to Nariman Point and back. The distance is the same. An increasing number of Bollywood scenes are being shot in Navi Mumbai railway stations. The recent Gunaah andDil Vil Pyar Vyar were cases in point. That's perhaps because NM stations are more like airports than typical Mumbai stations. However, in DVPV, in one of the scenes shot in my own Nerul station, they had a clear 'Bandra' sign hanging in the background! I was furious!

Posted by
willie mendis

15 October 2006 @ 2 AM

The concept of Countermagnet Cities should not be confused with that of Sattelite Towns.The contrast between them is in the scale to which each is capable of responding to the "problems" of the city that spawned the need for it.Even where a Countermagnet has been applied in Policy terms,the downside has been the period required for the maturing of the expected outcomes.The nature of a Human Settlement has been the attributes of growth & development in living organisms.The latter takes an unchartered course,depending on the choices made by the people who live therein.The consequence has been the"outgrowth" of the original relevance of the concept of " countermagnet" to a different notch in the problem-solving process.This is the debate.