Proposal to construct two Indian Oil Corporation
terminals in Karwar opposed
The tensions between the communities and
the authorities play out through protests
mainly, as the functioning of the defence
authorities is not transparent. The defence
authorities have already acquired extensive
amounts of land which remain undeveloped.
In the face of such a situation, the residents
do not want to part with more of their land
for the sake of infrastructure development.
Parks and open spaces
Karwar presently lacks a significant number of
open parks and green spaces. The beach is the
only prominent lung space for the city. The |
future master plan proposes that around 10.01
per cent of the total urbanised area be developed
as neighbourhood parks. Mangroves that helped
mankind grow are dying silent death! It is ironical
that the master plan would conclude that there
is a lack of open and green spaces in Karwar. The
very location of Karwar with the beach on the
west and the hills with the forests on the east
gives it an abundance of it. On the other hand,
there is a degeneration of mangroves along the
coast and river edge, due to infrastructure
proposals such as the construction of a jetty and
public-space development. These mangroves
are natural barriers to the sea and provide habitat
for a multitude of flora and fauna. They are not
awarded a protected status whereas standard
‘types’ of open and green spaces normally
described in master plan of cities multiply.
Transport and infrastructure
As mentioned earlier, the British laid down a
grid-iron pattern with wide roads in Karwar.
However, no further development of the system
was done later. This led to a narrow, unorganised
layout of streets. The future master plan
reserves 19.12 per cent of the total urbanised
area. New roads in the city have been proposed
as has been the widening of old ones to facilitate
smooth flow of the traffic. It has also been
proposed that the state’s highways which
connect Karwar to Ilakal and to Belgaum be
widened to 30m. Specific internal roads of the
city have been identified for widening up to
9m, 12m and 18m to ensure better circulation
of the traffic. The question would be: Is the
widening of the roads the best solution for
the low density of Karwar?Nature- , culture- and people-centric approaches
To address the nature-, culture- and people-
centric approaches, the city was read through
a series of mapping frameworks, grids, over-
lay diagrams and timelines.
The mapping frameworks looked at Karwar from
three perspectives — those of Geo-political &
Infrastructure, Socio-Cultural, and the Economy.
Each of these perspectives examined the city
across four-time scales of pre-colonial, colonial,
post-independence, present and four spatial
scales of world, subcontinent, region, city. A
sample of the study is illustrated below:
The mapping of Karwar in this manner helps to
identify patterns of development in theThis page:A large number of
the inhabitants of Karwar
are engaged in fishing and
other subsidiary
occupations
Opposite page: An
illustration depicting the
various socio-cultural cycles
in Karwar through the year