[Reader-list] Nanocity outside Chandigarh? - from Gautam bhan

[Priya]

Dear All,

 This is my first posting on the list but I wanted to write in and see
what you all know about Nanocity, a proposed 11,000 "metropolis" being
built 20km or so outside Chandigarh by Sabeer Bhatia, the Hotmail
millionairre. I'm a student at UC berkeley here in the US in the urban 
planning
program, and people here are involved in the design of this city,
which seems to have land clearance from the governent and is claiming
to be ready by 2012 at the cost of over $1bn.

 Now, in India and the Indian press, I haven't seen much or any public
dialogue about this - -for a project of this magnitude it strikes me as
odd because it seems to be going much beyond the IT park/SEZ/Township
models that we're used to, and I'm wondering why there is such silence
about it.

 there must be issues of diplacement of people and land use involved,
without even talking about what it means for a private millionairre to 
decide
to build a "21st century metropolis."

 can anyone enlighten? If everyone else is as much out of the loop as I
have been, I think its time we start taking Mr Bhatia's plan seriously and
trying to understand what's apparently going on in our backyard.

 best,
 Gautam