Using a Sports Club is a Privilege, not a Right

Recently, I read a piece called 'Degeneration of Sports Clubs - Dogs and Indians not Allowed', written by Harshad Oak. While I do not want to delve into the motivations of the writer, a number of misstatements and downright factual errors in the article need to be corrected. So, here's an attempt to set the record straight. Additionally, I can only speak for Deccan Gymkhana and not PYC.

A few enthusiastic people created Deccan Gymkhana by acquiring land from Shirole Patil in 1906. Their motive? Recreation from sports. The same people held a pre-olympic tournament at the club in 1918/19 which caused the club to go into heavy debt. At that point, DG colony was setup so the agreement with Shirole could continue. DG colony members also became members of the club. DG started accepting permanent members in 1960, not before. The point here is that DG started as a sports club and remains one, and uses land acquired from a private person. If you lived around Deccan Gymkhana, you would know that most of the land there has been acquired from Shirole Patil - from Ferguson College all the way up to Bhandarkar Road.

Second point - Indians do not have the luxury of using free sports facilities like the west does. True, but that does not make a sports club responsible for taking over that responsibility. If you have a grievance, take it up with the government. A club cannot be held accountable when the government abdicates its responsibility.

Can underprivileged get access to sporting facility provided by the club? Yes, they absolutely can. For example, if you want to join Basketball coaching program, you have to pay Rs 650 per month for 6 playing days a week. On a daily basis, assuming 26 playing days in a month, it comes to Rs 25. Prices for other departments vary by infrastructure and style of game - Swimming is cheaper while Tennis is costlier, but the fact remains that anyone can sign up as a temporary member and start playing. In addition, the club and its members often support the highly talented, by not just giving complete waivers on fees and coaching charges, but by supplying discounted equipment and by paying out cash donations. Deccan Gymkhana does a lot for underprivileged sportsmen and women in and around Pune than any government facility. I challenge the writer to prove otherwise.

Someone has to pay for the infrastructure and facility and that's where the permanent members come in. They have paid lump sum amounts which are invested by the club in the infrastructure. I don't think it's wrong for the clubs to offer the facilities to the permanent members before others, since they are the ones who paid for them.

Ultimately, if you want to use the facilities (yes, the subsidized canteen is a facility that serves tea for Rs 10) of the club, you must pay for it, regardless of who you are. As far as I know, DG doesn't have a policy of making non members sit on canteen floor - I have never seen such atrocious behavior from any security guard. If you are not a member (of any kind), you should not be inside the club, period. If you are not a member, and want to be inside the club, you must pay Rs. 50 for a day pass. Why is that so hard to understand? Would the writer demand that he or his spouse be allowed to sit in say, a maths class his child goes to? In fact, the humiliation the writer talks about comes from the fact that he tried to use the club's facilities for free and got caught by security. The entire article has been written in the same vein - I demand the facilities, not because I paid for the privilege to use them, but because your club is a charitable society - I shall park where ever I choose, use what I want when I want, under the guise of fighting for the poor.

And, no your son is not a security threat. The security is in place so no one else takes advantage of him or runs off with him. 


Should the club give access for free to all? It's not possible and if such a facility were to be implemented, the club will quickly turn into an ill maintained municipal garden with broken benches, equipment, and a den of crime at night.

As far as I know, there's no requirement on any charitable trust or society to give free access to anyone that demands it - you must become a member. Even schools, which are started by charitable trusts or societies, require that a child be admitted before using the facilities. Would the writer like some random person off the street to enter his child's school, or would he want strict controls on ingress and egress? Would this be known as degeneration of education otherwise? Or a system where only dogs and Indians are not allowed? Or would he turn to Gandhi or Rosa Parks so a vagabond could enter the school?

Lastly, I am not sure the position alcohol occupies in all this. But, if the members want to enjoy a drink or two and are being served by a legally empowered establishment, there's really no issue. The writer is clearly biased against alcohol and is entitled to his own views. However, at the same time, he should not try to impose his views on an organization of persons to which he does not belong.

The club clearly does not need solutions from the writer. There are more than enough capable people within the club who have made it the best run sports club within Pune and will continue to do so. In conclusion, it would be best if the writer minds his own business and let the club members handle club policies.  I would encourage the writer to take his business somewhere else and leave our club alone. Perhaps, the writer can move to Mumbai and enjoy the facilities offered by the reputed sports club there. However, one wonders what the membership structure of that reputed sports club is.

Renewing Indian Cities - The Future of JNNURM

Now that the Union Government has announced that it will not continue JNNURM in the same format, I am taking this opportunity to put forth my views on what our cities need. Please feel free to comment, agree or disagree.

My feeling is that the JNNURM funds were clearly wasted on useless projects such as the BRTS, when they could have been better utilized improving basic infrastructure. This experience is of course Pune centric and other people may have different thoughts on the subject.

With the likelihood of GST becoming a reality in the next couple of years, the GoI could really have a huge say in how the transport infrastructure within cities evolves and matures.

Note: I am not commenting on traffic offenses and the need for enforcing traffic rules as that's another blog and I hope the new Motor Act legislation will effectively deal with it.




Pay cash to the local body only if they agree to the following:

Public Transport

Privatize all public transport concerns in Metropolitan areas and let private operators run services as a for profit initiative. Then and only then are you likely to see well maintained, clean, comfortable, punctual, disciplined public transport fleets on the streets of our cities.

I realize that this would make the transportation much more expensive than it is today, but a beautiful solution is in the offing - use Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) to directly credit the required amount on the smart cards of commuters who need to use PT. People who can drive cars or two wheelers to work don't need subsidies and hence can pay to enjoy hassle free PT.

In effect, you have suddenly turned a loss making, inefficient concern into a profitable, possibly publicly listed, company. You have also removed all undue political influence and removed a major source of corruption.

Footpaths, Roads and Signals

Ensure that all footpaths across India in all cities follow the same guidelines for kerb height, width and surface. In fact, ban the hideous creations built using paving blocks and bathroom tiles. Mandate that all footpaths must either be made from cobblestones (or stamped concrete) or just plain cement concrete. Link width of a footpath to the width of the road. Additionally, mandate that kerb stones of random height and length cannot be used, ever. Plus, ask the local body to run separate piping under the footpath for storm water drains and sewer drains, and to not mix the two. Storm water must be collected in the drains under the footpaths, and should not to be run off to a larger road or intersection. In addition, make the local body install empty ducting allowing businesses to lay cables for internet, electricity and telephones for a fee. Threaten to take away all the money from the local body if a hawker is found blocking a footpath and selling his wares or preparing food in no hawking zones.

Make sure that all roads have even surfaces regardless of the technology used - tar, concrete, pollution absorbing surfaces, cobblestones, whatever. Just say no to undulating surfaces, dips, bumps and other abominable creations. On every road, lay ducts across and under the roads and connect them to the ducts below footpaths. Reduce the need to dig up roads as much as possible. If a road needs to be dug up, lay the onus on the local body to repair the road within 24 hours and bring it back to the original condition (as a side note, The Pune Municipal Corporation has been laying a water line on a busy street for the last eighteen months and expects eighteen more months to finish it. This road is only 3Km long). In fact, all road repairs should match the previous road height and not create bumps, troughs and weird slopes.

Mandate that all signals must be placed before pedestrian crossings and not after. Remove those idiotic signal timers post haste. Ensure that all cabling is under the street and mandate a turnaround time of 24 hours to fix a broken signal. Oh, and please, please dictate that the signals must run for 24 hours daily. Please utilize this excellent report on traffic signal improvements from Save Pune Traffic Movement. I am sure they can provide a copy in English if needed.

Monitoring Progress

We of course do not want a team of central inspectors examining all work of the local body, as this will only give rise to more corruption and maintain status quo. Instead, tackle this issue by using a three pronged strategy:

• Instill pride in the minds of the local body staff. Let them proudly put up their name on signposts saying that they built and maintain this road or this footpath or whatever. Mandate that a signpost including the project name and project code is put up at every site.
• Make independent quality audits by third party providers a must. In theory, this would be similar to an independent financial auditor. 
• Use local citizen's to monitor the work - mohalla committees, NGOs that have put in serious efforts to help before must be allowed to monitor and complain directly to the JNNURM fund sanctioning authority with the project name and code.

I think if the Union Government forces the local body to execute on these requirements even up to say 60% to 70%, we could actually have a winner.

The Business of 4 FSI in the Pune Metro Influence Zone

As many are aware, the Pune Municipal Corporation has proposed an FSI of 4 in the Metro Influence Zone. Here's a latest news article discussing this issue:

Proposed Metro Route. Image Source: Google, Credits: Unknown

What is the Metro Influence Zone? It is a zone, 500 meters wide, on the either side of the proposed Metro track. For the Metro line that would connect Vanaz to Ramwadi, all areas within 500 meters from the Metro track would fall under this. Ostensibly, this is being done to pay for the Metro and to increase the population density along the Metro corridor so more people will use the Metro and make it profitable. Nothing could be further from the truth, comparisons to London or Singapore notwithstanding. This plan has been prepared by the builders for the builders.

A simple mathematical calculation as the one below will quickly tell you why. For our hypothesis, let's start with PMC Prabhag 36 (ward 36), which falls under this zone. Property rates here are around INR 15K/20K per sq foot her. Let's assume that the going land rate is INR 10K per sq. foot. If someone owns a 10,000 sq. foot piece of land, it will cost INR 10 crore today.

Let's say a builder goes to the landowner and offers to buy that piece of land. The cost of acquisition is 10 core. This land comes with the FSI of 1. Now to utilize the FSI of 4, the builder must purchase the remaining FSI from the PMC at market rates (note that the land owner gets nothing extra here although some might argue that 10 crore is a good chunk of change). Now, the land acquisition cost for the builder is 40 crore. Considering that the builder must now make more investments into construction, beautification, landscaping, taxes, marketing and paperwork, we are looking at an additional cost of 15 crore minimum if not more. The total cost of the the project has already jumped to INR 55 crore. Let's say the project takes 3 years to complete and the builder is paying an interest of 15% pa. Assuming that the entire amount won't be under loan, we can surmise that the yearly loan payout is 5 crore. The cost of our project is now INR 70 crore.

Now, if the builder has to make a minimum of 10% net on this project, he would have to sell it with a minimum of 20% adder on top. In effect, the sales price for this project is now INR 85 crore.

Here, the builder is selling 40,000 square feet for INR 85 crore. That comes to INR 21,250 per square foot. A standard 1200 sq. feet apartment in this MIZ now costs INR 2.55 crore. If the builder builds smaller 550 sq feet apartments as some folks have suggested, each apartment will cost 1.17 crores. Would you buy 550 sq feet for that much money? I know I wouldn't, as many others won't. The only people who can buy these are super rich who don't care. The builder also knows this. So, what does he do? He builds 5000 sq feet apartments with double height ceilings, panoramic views and private elevators, sells those for INR 15 crore each. All said and done, the builder is in this to make a buck - his motives are not altruistic. Does anyone seriously think that someone who just shelled out 15 crore or 2.5 crore or even 1.17 crore for a flat will use the Metro for his/her daily commute?

That's just nightmare scenario one. What if the land owner says that I also want in on this FSI racket and won't sell his land to the builder at the FSI of 1? The builder will have to pay more. That increases the per square foot cost of land and increases the project costs even more. Don't be surprised to see 10,000 sq feet apartments that sell for INR 60 crore in such cases. Moreover, as the property rates start increasing, the land rates will also increase, creating tremendous upward pricing pressure.

This proposal of 4 FSI is not good for the city of Pune. The city planners and the builders have put our city on sale and we must stop it using whichever legal means available.

Feel free to add comments or poke holes in my theory. See below for a Twitter conversation between various folks on this issue:

Twitter Conversation on the 4 FSI