The Hindu     25.08.2012

Urban march apace in Kozhikode

It is an inexorable march. Urbanisation is sweeping
through more and more places, and Kozhikode is no exception to the
global trend. A detailed chart prepared by the Town Planning Office
shows that urbanisation is expected to spread rapidly to the
north-eastern parts of the district by 2021.

Visuals
prepared by the department reveal that urban growth will increasingly
graduate from the coastal parts, covering the Kozhikode Corporation
area, to places such as Chathamangalam, Mukkam and Mavoor in the decade
that started in 2011.

The areas marked as “Expected
Local Bodies 2021” in a chart prepared by Town Planner G. Sasikumar show
urbanisation spreading through Ramanattukara, Cheruvannur, Perambra,
Koothali, Balussery, Chelanoor, Kizhakoth, Koduvally, Chemancheri,
Azhiyam, Eramala, Omassery, Payyoli, Onchiyam and Koyilandy.

The
statistics show that the percentage of the urban population has
increased from 38.25 per cent to 67.15 per cent in the past decade. The
chart says that while only 19 areas have shown urban characteristics in
2001, the number rose to 52 in the 2011 Census. But the “total
population” has increased only to 30.9 lakh from 28.8 lakh in the
decade, it shows.

Job scene

Mr.
Sasikumar says a reason for the rapid pace of urbanisation is the
shifting employment scene, with more and more people opting for
professions other than agriculture.

Mr. Sasikumar
says his statistics have been largely based on the attitude of the
population towards gaining a “metropolitan character.” “More and more
people have been engaged in non-agriculture pursuits such as industry
and administrative and information-technology-based jobs,” he says.

It is time Kozhikode embraced its identity as an “emerging” metro and planned for urbanisation, he says.“Otherwise,
panchayats will have to face the problems of urbanisation, such as a
scarcity of drinking water and power, without any external aid,” he
says.

The city’s outskirts such as Kunnamangalam
offer a natural option for academic institutions for its quietude and
pollution-free environment with minimal traffic.Kunnamangalam
has a special place on the country’s education map as it hosts two of
the premier professional institutes of the country — the Indian
Institute of Management and the National Institute of Technology. Both
have sprawling campuses with residential facilities for faculty and
students.

Many elite English-medium schools have come
up in the vicinity to cater for the needs of those employed at the two
institutes, a good section from other States.

Professionals
with property in the city are showing interest in buying large tracts
of land in the suburbs to build houses and live there as they do not
mind commuting to the central business district and back on National
Highway no. 212, which passes through Kunnamangalam.“I prefer to stay
somewhere on the outskirts as buying land within the city limits of
Kozhikode is outside my budget. I don’t like living in a flat as a house
gives me my own individuality,” Arun Kumar, who teachers Botany at
Zamorin’s Guruvayurappan College, says.