Colonial skeletons

Sunanda K. Datta-Ray’s article Colonial creations (Dec. 8) underlines the lacunae in planning India’s major metropolises. Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi are colonial legacies where the dark chapter of segregated planning was papered over. As a result our cities continue to be overburdened due to a mismatch between infrastructure and the numbers it caters to. The floods in Chennai show how nature’s fury levels personality cults to the ground, bringing the underlying gaps in planning and apathy to public good to the surface.

Amod Palekar

Pune