The Smart city will be built in these areas which are predominant government colonies. According to the project, these houses will be demolished. These houses were built in seventies. They are still strong enough to last at least next fifty years. The marked price of the houses ranges between Rs. 50 lakh to Rs one crore.

These houses are located very close to the state secretarial and offices of heads of departments. It is impossible that such a big number of government servants will get alternate houses at viable cost. The announcement evoked bitter attack on the officer who made this statement. The concerned officer is part of the Chief Minister's office. Those who reacted sharply also include some members of the cabinet, legislators and BJP workers.

Most devastating attack came from former Chief Minister and All India Congress Committee general secretary Digvijaya Singh. He attacked the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government over the smart city project, saying the state's 'thought and insensitive attitude' deserved strongest condemnation.

In a letter written to Chouhan, the former chief minister said, 'I came to know through media that the municipal corporation did not gain the trust of the common people and intellectuals before going ahead with the proposal. They committed a fraud as a large number of suggestions for smart city were submitted by BMC employees themselves.'

Expressing concern over the potential damage to the environment, he said there were 30,000-40,000 trees in Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar and they made the entire city of Bhopal smart with its greenery and oxygen.

He said there were thousands of officials and employees residing in these areas who do not have their own houses and there are several markets where businessmen make their living. 'In the situation it is quite painful and unfortunate that the government employees and businessmen will be dislodged without any concrete plan', he added.

He also suggested the formation of a committee of social workers, intellectuals and other to include their suggestions during implementation of the plan.

He suggested that employees and officers be shifted to other government lodgings after renovating their houses in a phased manner. The new government houses too could be constructed in a phased manner. In view of the panic cost by the directive to vacate houses by June 30, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan himself issued a lengthy clarification assuring government employees that they need not vacate their government accommodations in Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar as part of the smart city project until they are provided accommodations elsewhere.

'Govt accommodations to be vacated only after providing other houses to govt employees under Smart City Mission,' Chouhan wrote on Twitter. He also said that as many as 9,126 houses will be constructed in a 332 acre area from 2 number bus stop to 6 number bus stop. A sum of Rs. 3440 crore will be spent in the first phase of construction.

In a meeting convened on April 19 by higher education minister Umashankar Gupta and mayor Alok Sharma it was made clear that in lieu of government residences which will be vacated, they will be provided alternate residences. After construction of new buildings, government staff will be re-allotted houses at the same places on priority basis.

However, the CM did not address various citizens' concerns on damage to the environment that would be caused by the project, with more than 27,000 trees set to be felled to implement the project – the CM's tweet was a replication of his office's tweet in this regard.

According to social activists, there was no environmental assessment done by any committee before selecting the areas for the project, 'Why this hurry and why Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar?' they asked.

Chandigarh, one of the best planned cities of the country, was raised on free space. 'There is free space at the outskirts of Bhopal too like one at Kanha Saraiya. There is vast land available even in North and South TT Nagar, where government accommodations were razed several years back but the government is adamant on implementing its project in Shivaji and Tulsi Nagar, which are already developed areas. Who will compensate the environmental loss and how,' they asked.

Most of the trees in Tulsi Nagar and Shivaji Nagar were 50 years old. 'Can the amount of oxygen generated by these trees be created with plantation of saplings immediately? Bhopal's temperature has shot up in the past one decade due to wanton felling of trees. Is raising a concrete jungle in the city development?' they added. (IPA Service)