This is a large scale topo-map of bundi.

Revival of Urban Heritage- Bundi

I went to bundi with a group of final year students from the School of Planning and Architecture. I am teaching an elective subject there. This time the subject i chose for the course was 'Revival of Urban Heritage- Bundi'. We are trying to document the heritage water-harnessing structures there. There are many many stepwells in the town area. Unfortunately almost all have been abandoned and are now being used as garbage pits and some even as unofficial public toilets.

We managed to find and document about 49 stepwells (bavdis and kunds).
Will post more details as and when.

topo scan showing the town of bundi and surrounding lakes jait sagar and phul sagar. 

Bundi

Bundi

About a year ago we were asked to document the Heritage Rainwater systems of Rajasthan by Mr. Bunker Roy for The Global Rainwater Harvesting Collective (GRHC). The object was to make a series of documentaries of different cities of Rajasthan, showcasing the Heritage Rainwater Harnessing system of each place, and their condition today. Trying to promote local initiatives and infrastructure to augment water-supply and recharge the ground-water table, the documentaries aim to rejuvenate the heritage systems that have been over-run by urbanisation and modernisation.

as part of the series we documented jaisalmer, bikaner, jodhpur, udaipur, the forts of jaipur, kumbhalgad and bundi. although most of these places have very critical issues, the one i was most affected by was bundi.

Bundi is a small town with a population of about 77,000 people. Unlike most towns in Rajasthan, bundi has not grown out of the old city by much. even today, almost 60-70% of the population lives in the mohallas of the old city. As neighbouring kota grew over bundi in significance in the 19th century, the later did not see too much urbanisation and modernisation, and did not face heavy rural-to-urban migration witnessed by most cities in india.
Legend has it that Bundi had over 60 bavdis and kunds till a few decades back. As elsewhere, as piped water made inroads into the fabric of the city, the old systems of harnessing water were either abandoned or put into disuse. The town had an elaborate network of channels that fed overflow water to the bavdis and kunds. This channel was filled up and a market was made there by the govt about 25 years back. This choked most of the bavdis as they depended heavily on this overflow to feed them. Also the lakes in bundi which maintained a high local watertable, were abused such that they do not collect much water today. This has obviously led to a sharp decline in the watertable.

When we first reached bundi we went and saw the famous bavdis, the raniji ki bavdi, nagar-sagar kunds, etc. Initially we found it very difficult to get information on more bavdis and kunds. Surprisingly there was very little documentation available even though most bavdis and kunds in bundi are highly elaborate architectural masterpieces. Even the ASI had info on only those ones they are 'maintaining', only 3-4 in all.
On the other hand when we started to talk to the local people we realised that almost each gali and mohalla had a bavdi or kund. with the help of many enthusiastic locals we covered around 25-30 bavdis and kunds. As we explored around and talked to people from different mohallas, we realised that the people especially the older generations were very proud of the bavdis and kunds.

The bavdis and kunds though told a diferent story. Leaving 3-4, all the others were in a very sorry state. Most of them had become ad-hoc garbage bins, some had even been completely filled in with garbage and debris. A few were being used as latrines in the morning. Apart from two bavdis maintained by temples, none of the others were being used. Infact most were as dry as tinder and liberally strewn with garbage and plastic. Many neighbouring houses not only throw their garbage into the bavdi/kund, some even drain their sewage into them. One of the most elaborate kunds we saw, the dabhaiyon ka kund, was being used by the locals to dry cowdung-cakes!

Obviously, the relevance of a bavdi/kund in todays environ has to be reassessed. With piped water available at ones doorstep, no person is enthusiastic to go to his/her neighbourhood bavdi and climb down to get water. (Although this does change when there is a drought year, when there is an extreme shortage of water. At such times, a few mohallas have been known to clean up their bavdi/kund and use the water for washing, etc, while the water-supply water is used for drinking. but this is an exception rather than the norm.) It is apparent that today, the bavdi/kund if maintained well can only supplement water-supply and not replace it. One of the obvious reasons is that the percapita water-consumption has increased manyfold with modern ammenities and lifestyles. with groundwater contamination at a rise, the quality of water has also deteriorated. Add to this the fact that only constant use can keep bavdi water from stagnating.

Another issue of maintainence has to do with ownership. Earlier the mohalla/community owned and maintained the bavdis/kunds within its area. Today the water-supply department, ASI, State archaeology, and local muncipality have taken up ownership of these structures. They have banned swimming and use of the bavdis. This has led the people to argue that the cleaning/maintainence of the bavdis/kunds is the govt's responsibility. Also mohalla children used to swim and clean the structures earlier, and although they are denied access today, no one else has come forward to take this responsibility.

After talking to many locals about these issues, i was encouraged to see that many people talked about doing something. Although very few had any idea of what exactly to do. Infact, only last year, with donations from a businessman, some people got together and cleaned up a bavdi by shram-daan. Although this is a commendable effort it does not tackle the issue of sustainability. the bavdis/kunds that are cleaned by such efforts inevitably return to the same pitiable condition within a few months.

The main issue that kept cropping up was that of solid-waste management. The system of collection and disposal of SW in Bundi is very basic. Although i have so far only talked of the apathy of bavdis/kunds, the streets in the town are also littered profusely. There are a few garbage bins situated across the city and collection from these is done on an irregular basis by the muncipality. The main market of bundi uses the sagar kund for SW dumping. Although there is a bin situated in the market, it is always overflowing with garbage, discouraging people from using it. Door to door collection is not happening anywhere. Even disposal is poorly handeled in Bundi. Infact one large kund was being used as a garbage and sewage dumping pit by the muncipality.

I feel that there is an urgent need to solve solid waste management in Bundi. As per the Muncipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, which came into effect on september 9th of that year, every muncipality is bound to have started door-to-door community collection by January 1st 2004. This is obviously not happening at the desired pace. the Rules also specify that the muncipality shall ensure community participation in waste segregation, also stating that the awareness generation programmes should involve local RWAs and NGOs. Although this puts the ultimate responsibility on the muncipalities, it also encourages community based initiatives to start grassroots work, putting pressure on the muncipality to keep up to the task, while also helping them in the important steps of segregation and collection, as well as waste-to-energy conversion. Infact the most important role of such a Community Based Organisation (CBO) would be in awareness generation.
The first step will have to be an awareness campaign to educate the people about proper management of solid waste. Segregation, collection and disposal, all need to be tackled. Issues like health, waste-to-energy conversion and proper disposal of toxic substances need to be debated within the community. People have to be educated about ground-water poisoning, vector diseases because of uncollected garbage, etc. Ofcourse a critical issue will involve final disposal. Should we continue to keep making new landfill sites and stuffing them? What about composting, sericulture and other eco-friendly waste management techniques. This issue will have to be tackled at both the community level and muncipality.

I feel, after my intensive interaction with bundi and the townsfolk, that there is a lot of enthusiasm among people to do something. An initiative is required from outside to start a CBO that will tackle these issues. I have been studying many other such initiatives around the country and have come to the conclusion that if the right people are involved and a sustainable approach is evolved, the town of Bundi can solve this problem. There is a lot of enthusiasm among the people for a solution.

Although i started off thinking of a conservation project for the bavdis and kunds of Bundi, i soon realised that solid waste management would have to be tackled first so that a sustainable solution is found. Once the SWM aspect gathers momentum, i would like to work to reinvent the bavdis/kunds of bundi as community spaces for the mohallas. Even if actual ownership does not change hands, atleast a sense of belonging needs to be inculcated. hamari bavdi. hamare mohalle ki bavdi. Where the children play, the women gossip and the men lounge. At the same time it will be important to use the water of the bavdis/kunds. Perhaps gardens, etc could be made around these. Different sollutions will have to be found for different bavdis/kunds. There was even one suggestion to do a classical recital (SPICMACAY) in one of the large kunds. The bavdis/kunds will have to be brought out of ignonamy and put into the center of the peoples social and cultural lives.

Also in todays context the bavdis and kunds will become jewels that attract the large tourism industry. Today a tourist visits only 3-4 bavdi/kunds. Nobody knows that there are so many bavdis hidden behind the urban fabric of the town. there is accomodation for only about 150-200 tourists in Bundi today.

Conservation issues will also have to be tackled as and how the bavdis are revived. Many bavdis have elaborate carvings and paintings. Some require immediate structural repair. Some others that have been burried in will have to be studied and excavated.


Intervention Methodology:

As of now, i have already been talking to various people and groups in bundi about these issues. I am trying to get the issue into the public consciousness. With the help of a few enthusiastic locals i have started distributing pamphlets on household waste segregation and collection.

I hope to continue this and try to reach as many people as possible. I am also planning to take a group of people to bundi in mid febuary for further discussions and awareness programs. I was thinking of staging some streetplays/ puppet shows on the issue, in some of the bavdis of bundi. Will try and invite the mohalla to its bavdi, and stage a show there without any cleaning, so that they are exposed to the filth they have created. At the same time i hope to have community meetings, etc. I have also talked to NGOs like the ToxicsLink who are willing to send experts in the field to talk to the communities and to figure out the technical aspects of setting up a Community-based Solid Waste Management program.

I hope to take up a mohalla soon after and start a pilot project there. This project would start of with shram-daan from the community to clean up the streets and bavdis of that mohalla. Immediately after i would like to initiate a door-to-door collection scheme for the same area. And depending on the enthusiasm and participation of the community, we will deal with issues like disosal-vs-composting, segregation of garbage, etc. Will try and promote the ideas of 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle'.

At the same time as the awareness program gathers steam, i will try and initiate work on archaeological and architectural documentation of the bavdis and kunds. As i have been teaching at the School of Planning and Architecture, i hope to take a group of students to bundi to document the bavdis/kunds, as well as the old water network that fed them. After an analyses is made, proper relevant conservation can be started by competent groups. But it is important to note that such a conservation will be worth it only if a sustainable solution is found to solid waste management. Also the conservation approach nedds to include the community so that they understand the importance of the process. There would be no point conserving a bavdi and putting a fence around it. the bavdi/kunds need to be promoted as living heritage rather than historical.

Depending on the success of the pilot project and the awareness program, more and more mohallas will be incorporated into the project. And hopefully in a couple of years Bundi will be an ideal dustbin-free town.

Phase 1: Awareness and infromation initiative.
Phase 2: Pilot SWM project in one chosen mohalla.
Phase 3: Expansion of pilot SWM program to include more and more mohallas.
Phase 4: Once the SWM has reached a sustainable phase, the conservation and revitalisation of bavdi/kunds would begin.

Economics of the project:

As of now i have been doing this project without any financial or infrastructure support from anyone. So far the intervention has been more about talking and awareness, and so expenses have been minimal.

I have begun to realise though that i need a platform to work from. and money too. as i have been involved with this project full time, i am not able to earn any income either. Also as the project takes off, personnel will be required for research, public relations, funding, organisation management, etc.
I would like only the initial part of the SWM project to be financed by donors. Once the SWM program is in place it has to sustain itself. User fees and recycling and composting will enable the project to run on its own once the basic infrastructure is up. On the other hand funds will be required till a fairly late stage for the conservation aspect of the project.

The Expenses:

Phase 1:
a) the awareness program: publication and distribution of information; expenditure for performance groups to stage plays/puppet-shows about the subject; involvement of NGO experts in the field for community interaction and technical know-how. Except for printing and publication, the other costs are mostly travel and living expenditures (and perhaps a token sum for the performers).
b) research: research on SWM, including community work and technical aspects like collection routes, disposal points, composting, etc. The other aspect of research involves documentation of bavdis/kunds from a conservation aspect.
c) salaries, expenses of people involved. Will need to include many full-time employees.

Phase 2:
a) setting up of SWM project in one mohalla. Costs will include setup costs and infrastructure (like rickshaws and garbage bins).
b) awareness program continues in other mohallas.
c) research and consultancy regarding bavdi/kund conservation. Detailed proposals for each bavdi/kund.

Phase 3:
a) Spreading the SWM project to other mohallas. infrastructure and setup costs.
b) conservation of pilot bavdi. revitalisation of bavdis and reintegration into the social and cultural fabric of the town.

Phase 4:
a) once the SWM is up, extensive conservation of bavdis/kunds and their revitalisation.
b) popularisation of bavdi/kunds. locally and tourism oriented.
c) social awareness program about tourism and its impact.
d) development of tourist infrastructure. (entry fee for tourists to bavdi/kund may supplement its upkeep.)


Endnote:

(Asking for the monies or the platform or both, depending on who i write to.)