NAGPUR: Indian cities have very little planning. What little planning exists, is impractical as the vision of development is far fetched compared to ground realities. There is a need to remove this mismatch between actual development (urban planning) and the big 'visions' and concepts like 'Smart Cities' that are generally borrowed from the western word. 

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Sharma said Srinagar was a city of lakes. All of them got washed away with the habitation in floods in September 2014 (Sic!). Karanprayag suffered much heavier losses during the June 2013 floods due to haphazard and unscientific constructions that destroyed the mountains there (Sic!). Konark has been declared as a city (it is basically a combination of six villages) very recently. It is just 50 metres from sea. Varanasi has no planning (Sic!). In fact, it is one city where most traffic signals are defunct and there is chaos. There is no drainage system. "How difficult will it be to convert them into smart cities," he asked.

"We have gone more wrong in last 20-30 years than earlier. This is clearly visible from the destruction of houses and other constructions in Karanprayag done in past 20 years. The older constructions didn't fall which indicates the traditional wisdom of planners," said Sharma.

Sharma and Rohatkar explained how the concerns of sustainability differed at different levels of planning as well as actual development.