Depletion of Wetlands and Water Bodies: A Threat Towards Smart City Missions - Case Examples in Kolkata

The scale and variety of a city like Kolkata puts it into a situation where smart city concepts have to be incorporated in parts and not as a whole. Its existing components and associated limitations demands much planned and structured methods to be incorporated in accordance with ground realities. The land use pattern in Kolkata still shows that wetlands, water bodies and canals consume a large portion of its metropolitan area and they have a considerable amount of potential for making the city more viable and beautiful. But in the wave of rapid urbanization especially in the last 10 years, the city is losing its water bodies faster than any other metro in India and projection states that if thewater bodies are filled up at the current rate, the remaining ones would be wiped out in the next 10 years. A GIS survey carried over a period of eight months showed that Kolkata had lost 46% of its water bodies since 2006. The situation is simply alarming. This paper will focus on the role and threats surrounding the depletion of wetlands, water bodies and canals in the urban and its immediate fringe areas of Kolkata -will investigate the ground realities and formulate generalized planning strategies on treating them well especiallyin the wake of smart city missions.