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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Does Chandigarh really need a metro? It isn’t a copy cat Indian city

Mobility has already been designed into Chandigarh. It doesn’t need to be retrofitted decades later.

Chandigarh: Metro is coming to Chandigarh. Soon. It’ll be here any moment now. All thanks to Member of Parliament Manish Tewari and Rajya Sabha MP Satnam Singh Sandhu, who have argued for it to be fast-tracked.

But, did these leaders—or, for that matter, the government—ever pause to think whether the city even needs a metro?

Chandigarh’s grid-based sectors, wide roads, and deliberate separation of functions were meant to prevent precisely the kind of chaos that now defines many metropolitan cities.

The city, which was designed for smooth traffic flow, would see its carefully planned urban balance disrupted. A metro would require cutting through established sectors, altering road layouts, and increasing interconnectedness in ways that may blur the city’s clear separation of spaces.

It is now inching toward the template of India’s expansive cities, such as Delhi and Bengaluru. It makes the metro argument less rooted in necessity and more in imitation.

If there is one thing this beautiful city was never meant to be was a copy.

The........

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