The city of my dreams now has a brand spanking new airport. Refurbished at a cost of over Rs 60 crore, it looks pretty much like the Bangalore International airport, albeit a bit smaller. Now, Mysore is connected to Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and maybe even Delhi, we are told. Smaller aircraft like the ATRs can land here and in the second phase of expansion, Mysore will be ready to receive larger aircraft like the Airbuses or Boeings.
Mysore has a new airport, but here in the IT capital of the world, children are still getting washed away in open drains. The mammoth search for 4-year-old Abhishek’s body did not hold any lessons for our civic corporation. Imagine the pain of the parents when they could not even give a decent burial to their son. Is life so cheap in India that we do not even get dignity in death? The case seems to be so. Last week, 18-month-old Vijay fell victim to BBMP’s callousness. The body has not been found which tells a telling tale of the state of our drains.
Mysore has a new airport, but the IT capital of the world gets gridlocked after just 90 minutes of rain. KH Road (supposedly the pride of Bangalore because it is named after Kengel Hanumanthiah), Bannerghatta Road (which houses some of the finest hospitals, shopping malls and multi-national IT companies), BTM Layout, VV Puram and several other areas that are considered the arteries of the city were choked with traffic after the downpour. It was just 3 cm of rain, mind you. And the IT capital was inundated. You can very well imagine the state of our drains and our preparedness to tackle exigencies.
Mysore has a new airport but in the IT capital of the world, two persons were electrocuted on Friday last after the heavy downpour. While one died in Kalasipalya, the other one lost his life in Kadugodi. Anybody who has taken a walk in Bangalore is aware of the risk the dangling wires hold, except for our officials. It is a disaster waiting to happen. And yet, when the disaster happens, there is only blame-game till the next time.
Mysore has a new airport but here in the IT capital of the world, people regularly stumble and fall because of broken and encroached footpaths. Two-wheeler riders regularly break their legs – and four-wheeler drivers their axles – because nobody bothers about the potholes in the middle of the road. If you have been a regular reader of The New Indian Express, you would have seen the size of them.
Mysore has a new airport but in Bijapur, little Kanchana had to lose her life because nobody is bothered about open borewells or public safety.
Mysore has a new airport. So let’s go and build some more airports around Karnataka for the world to see. What about lesser mortals losing their lives every day, you ask? The authorities can ask the parents to be more careful.
ravijoshi@epmltd.com
Friday, November 27, 2009
To Mr Y, on his govt’s first birthday
The first BJP government in South India has completed a year with many feathers in its cap. Saffron-haters would expect a listing of the party’s shortcomings as well in this column but I’m not going to oblige them just yet.
Readers of The New Indian Express would have seen pictures of the Chief Minister playing cricket with his granddaughter in their favourite newspaper a few days back. I’m going to grab this opportunity to extract some concessions from the CM when he seems to be in a happy and relaxed mood.
So here it is, Mr Y.
You have been pressing on with infrastructure projects cleared by the earlier government (wherein you were the deputy chief minister) and have also sanctioned several new ones to decongest Bangalore and make it a world-class city. While there are no two ways about development, we should ensure that minimum damage is caused to our environment. Of course, there will be a price to be paid for progress, but we could look at building “stacks of roads” that Mr Narayana Murthy proposed – and got – in the form of the elevated corridor.
But Mr Y, children are falling into open drains, getting electrocuted in parks, becoming orphans because of unscientifically-built road humps. People are getting killed because of poor road signage, because truck and bus drivers are not sensitized and because officials don’t care. Travel down the Bangalore-Mysore state highway and you will understand what I am saying. Or take a round of the city without informing your officials. The Sunday Rounds was a good thing you had started, Mr Y. Pity, it died after just one round. I understand that you are a very busy man, Mr Y, but you need to go around Karnataka’s cities and make heads roll when you see dirty streets and poorly maintained roads. Or, when you see people lugging buckets and pitchers and trekking for miles to get clean drinking water. Or children studying in the dark and yet scoring such fabulous marks.
You also need to visit public utility offices once in a while. And see how your people stand in queues and are treated with disdain by your officials. Will it not help, Mr Y, if most applications are submitted online?
I also have a problem with the “world-class city” tag, Mr Y. What is it about “world-class” that attracts chief ministers of all our states? Is it the wealth, like in the case of West Asian countries? Or is it the sanitized, clinical environs of some of our South-east Asian counterparts? Is it the gleaming glass structures, like in the case of Shanghai, where architects from the world over flocked and practiced their craft because no one in their own countries would allow them to build such horrific energy consumers?
Karnataka’s cities – Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, to name a few -- are world-class in every sense of the word. All we need to do is get somebody in place who truly feels that way and also ensures they are maintained properly and stay alive to the needs of the citizens.
As for the other problems facing the state, I am sure you are the best man for the job, Mr Y.
Happy birthday, Mr CM.
Readers of The New Indian Express would have seen pictures of the Chief Minister playing cricket with his granddaughter in their favourite newspaper a few days back. I’m going to grab this opportunity to extract some concessions from the CM when he seems to be in a happy and relaxed mood.
So here it is, Mr Y.
You have been pressing on with infrastructure projects cleared by the earlier government (wherein you were the deputy chief minister) and have also sanctioned several new ones to decongest Bangalore and make it a world-class city. While there are no two ways about development, we should ensure that minimum damage is caused to our environment. Of course, there will be a price to be paid for progress, but we could look at building “stacks of roads” that Mr Narayana Murthy proposed – and got – in the form of the elevated corridor.
But Mr Y, children are falling into open drains, getting electrocuted in parks, becoming orphans because of unscientifically-built road humps. People are getting killed because of poor road signage, because truck and bus drivers are not sensitized and because officials don’t care. Travel down the Bangalore-Mysore state highway and you will understand what I am saying. Or take a round of the city without informing your officials. The Sunday Rounds was a good thing you had started, Mr Y. Pity, it died after just one round. I understand that you are a very busy man, Mr Y, but you need to go around Karnataka’s cities and make heads roll when you see dirty streets and poorly maintained roads. Or, when you see people lugging buckets and pitchers and trekking for miles to get clean drinking water. Or children studying in the dark and yet scoring such fabulous marks.
You also need to visit public utility offices once in a while. And see how your people stand in queues and are treated with disdain by your officials. Will it not help, Mr Y, if most applications are submitted online?
I also have a problem with the “world-class city” tag, Mr Y. What is it about “world-class” that attracts chief ministers of all our states? Is it the wealth, like in the case of West Asian countries? Or is it the sanitized, clinical environs of some of our South-east Asian counterparts? Is it the gleaming glass structures, like in the case of Shanghai, where architects from the world over flocked and practiced their craft because no one in their own countries would allow them to build such horrific energy consumers?
Karnataka’s cities – Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, to name a few -- are world-class in every sense of the word. All we need to do is get somebody in place who truly feels that way and also ensures they are maintained properly and stay alive to the needs of the citizens.
As for the other problems facing the state, I am sure you are the best man for the job, Mr Y.
Happy birthday, Mr CM.
Poll dance: Will you show them the finger?
Silly season starts in the country later this month when election dates are announced. And it will come at the right time, just after the United States caught a cold and the world started sneezing.
Call it the fourth stimulus package, if you will. All told, the electoral spend could be as high as Rs 15,000 crore. The cap on expenditure by a contestant stands at Rs 35 lakh but everybody gets by with a little help from friends. The whirlwind tours by politicians, the gifts to voters, the convoys, and the money shelled out to ensure the right numbers at rallies etc. are seldom accounted for in a contestant’s books.
Finally, a lot of jobs will created, albeit for a short time. Taxi operators will have a tight schedule, printing presses will go into overdrive, unemployed villagers will be wooed like never before and the chai-and-omelette wallahs will have a field day.
Coupled with the new industrial policy the Karnataka government announced on Saturday (which envisages creation of another 10 lakh jobs) and the Budget 2009-10 initiatives by the Yeddyurappa administration, we will finally see some good cheer reaching the most neglected homes in the state.
Back-of-the-envelope calculations show that each candidate will spend between Rs 7 and 8 crore (at a conservative estimate), depending on the number – and pockets -- of opponents. A study by the Centre of Media Studies says that what India will spend in the next 3-4 months will top the expenditure incurred during the US Presidential polls over a year.
But what good is this great democratic process to the average young, urban citizen? How many of you will go to the polling booths and show everybody the finger – for the indelible ink on it?
Politicians don’t care much about the average young, urban citizen. That is not their constituency, as former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy showed during his mega JD(S) rally in Bangalore. So it is not surprising that while vigilante groups roam Karnataka’s mega cities -- attacking women for wearing jeans, talking in English or going to a restaurant because they are too tired to cook after a hard day’s work -- police take a backseat and the local politician hardly ever shows concern.
So what option does the average young, urban citizen have when she or he goes out to vote in Karnataka? As things stand today, zilch.
But what you do have is the power of money.
You have the power to stop patronizing pubs outside which people like you were attacked. After all, how many pub owners have joined issue when their patrons were assaulted? The liquor barons of Karnataka have the clout to put an end to this menace by just picking up the phone and asking the government to act. But they will not do so unless you switch to other brands.
The average young, urban citizen has two choices -- democracy or econocracy. If you choose the latter, spend it wisely.
Call it the fourth stimulus package, if you will. All told, the electoral spend could be as high as Rs 15,000 crore. The cap on expenditure by a contestant stands at Rs 35 lakh but everybody gets by with a little help from friends. The whirlwind tours by politicians, the gifts to voters, the convoys, and the money shelled out to ensure the right numbers at rallies etc. are seldom accounted for in a contestant’s books.
Finally, a lot of jobs will created, albeit for a short time. Taxi operators will have a tight schedule, printing presses will go into overdrive, unemployed villagers will be wooed like never before and the chai-and-omelette wallahs will have a field day.
Coupled with the new industrial policy the Karnataka government announced on Saturday (which envisages creation of another 10 lakh jobs) and the Budget 2009-10 initiatives by the Yeddyurappa administration, we will finally see some good cheer reaching the most neglected homes in the state.
Back-of-the-envelope calculations show that each candidate will spend between Rs 7 and 8 crore (at a conservative estimate), depending on the number – and pockets -- of opponents. A study by the Centre of Media Studies says that what India will spend in the next 3-4 months will top the expenditure incurred during the US Presidential polls over a year.
But what good is this great democratic process to the average young, urban citizen? How many of you will go to the polling booths and show everybody the finger – for the indelible ink on it?
Politicians don’t care much about the average young, urban citizen. That is not their constituency, as former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy showed during his mega JD(S) rally in Bangalore. So it is not surprising that while vigilante groups roam Karnataka’s mega cities -- attacking women for wearing jeans, talking in English or going to a restaurant because they are too tired to cook after a hard day’s work -- police take a backseat and the local politician hardly ever shows concern.
So what option does the average young, urban citizen have when she or he goes out to vote in Karnataka? As things stand today, zilch.
But what you do have is the power of money.
You have the power to stop patronizing pubs outside which people like you were attacked. After all, how many pub owners have joined issue when their patrons were assaulted? The liquor barons of Karnataka have the clout to put an end to this menace by just picking up the phone and asking the government to act. But they will not do so unless you switch to other brands.
The average young, urban citizen has two choices -- democracy or econocracy. If you choose the latter, spend it wisely.
Why the Yeddyurappa govt will not fall
One of the pitfalls of being in the newspaper business is the spot analyses that you are expected to dish out. Nobody lets you hedge your bets. The questions have to be answered in monosyllables: “Did Mr X accept that Rs 150 crore?” or “Are Ms Y and Mr Z having an affair?” This past week, I have been bombarded with just one question, from my sabziwallah to my neighbour: “Will this government fall?” So here is my take on the situation in Karnataka today.
Anybody looking for a sharp spot analysis need not read a column. Instead, look at a picture that The New Indian Express published last Saturday: Mr Y looking into the camera shaking a certain K Rosaiah’s hand. Rosaiah, an unwilling Andhra Chief Minister, seems to be firmly in the saddle now. Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party has been pushing him to stop mining activities by Obalapuram Mining Company, a firm owned by Gali Janardhan Reddy, the man in the thick of the battle with B S Yeddyurappa. Rosaiah, the YSR loyalist, transferred Y Srilakshmi, Secretary (mines), because she was considered too close to the mining barons of Karnataka.
The Reddy Brothers of Bellary were said to be close to Y S Rajashekhara Reddy. After his tragic death, efforts were under way to install his son, Jaganmohan Reddy, as the CM. But the Congress high command (what the hell, let’s name names: Rahul Gandhi) wanted him in New Delhi. So, that option is ruled out. And it’s hurting the Reddy Brothers badly.
Mr Y on the other hand is going from strength to strength. After having delivered 19 MPs to the BJP’s kitty, he rules one of the handful of states that the saffron party has. And he looks pretty confident too: After transferring the Gadag DC and imposing a toll on mining trucks, he struck at the heart of the mining barons by transferring officials in Bellary. Do you think any CM would do that if he was not sure about his own money-spinning powers, given that elections today are won solely on financial muscle? Arun Jaitley is backing Mr Y and Sushma Swaraj, the godmother of the Bellary Brothers, has too many problems of her own.
The BJP high command thus does not have too many options. It knows that any change in the leadership now will have devastating effect on its poll prospects.
Which brings us to the fringe players in Karnataka: the Congress and the JD(S). The former is a no-man show and the latter a one-man show. Besides, in this hour of crisis -- villages have to be shifted, houses have to be built, succour has to be provided, money has to be raised -- it is better to sit back and criticize than to step in and execute.
And the role of the Governor? H R Bharadwaj is a veteran of politics and constitutional law. He knows that he does not need to step in right now.
I’ve tried to hedge my bets when answering the question. But if you still want an answer to the question “will this government fall” in monosyllables: No.
Anybody looking for a sharp spot analysis need not read a column. Instead, look at a picture that The New Indian Express published last Saturday: Mr Y looking into the camera shaking a certain K Rosaiah’s hand. Rosaiah, an unwilling Andhra Chief Minister, seems to be firmly in the saddle now. Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party has been pushing him to stop mining activities by Obalapuram Mining Company, a firm owned by Gali Janardhan Reddy, the man in the thick of the battle with B S Yeddyurappa. Rosaiah, the YSR loyalist, transferred Y Srilakshmi, Secretary (mines), because she was considered too close to the mining barons of Karnataka.
The Reddy Brothers of Bellary were said to be close to Y S Rajashekhara Reddy. After his tragic death, efforts were under way to install his son, Jaganmohan Reddy, as the CM. But the Congress high command (what the hell, let’s name names: Rahul Gandhi) wanted him in New Delhi. So, that option is ruled out. And it’s hurting the Reddy Brothers badly.
Mr Y on the other hand is going from strength to strength. After having delivered 19 MPs to the BJP’s kitty, he rules one of the handful of states that the saffron party has. And he looks pretty confident too: After transferring the Gadag DC and imposing a toll on mining trucks, he struck at the heart of the mining barons by transferring officials in Bellary. Do you think any CM would do that if he was not sure about his own money-spinning powers, given that elections today are won solely on financial muscle? Arun Jaitley is backing Mr Y and Sushma Swaraj, the godmother of the Bellary Brothers, has too many problems of her own.
The BJP high command thus does not have too many options. It knows that any change in the leadership now will have devastating effect on its poll prospects.
Which brings us to the fringe players in Karnataka: the Congress and the JD(S). The former is a no-man show and the latter a one-man show. Besides, in this hour of crisis -- villages have to be shifted, houses have to be built, succour has to be provided, money has to be raised -- it is better to sit back and criticize than to step in and execute.
And the role of the Governor? H R Bharadwaj is a veteran of politics and constitutional law. He knows that he does not need to step in right now.
I’ve tried to hedge my bets when answering the question. But if you still want an answer to the question “will this government fall” in monosyllables: No.
Extreme engineering, in Bangalore!
Reading the papers these days has me in splits.
After a couple of accidents, in quick succession, at an under-construction line of the Delhi Metro, questions are being raised – by newspapers -- about the safety of the Bangalore Metro since it follows the same model.
It’s not that accidents during construction are anything new. London Metro has had to contend with it when a tunnel collapsed on the Heathrow high-speed line. Similarly, a tunnel collapsed in Singapore during the construction for the MRT line, claiming four lives. During a press conference after the accidents, Delhi Metro chief E Sreedharan had this to say: “The DMRC accident rate is still very low as compared to international standards as Singapore has 1.1 accidents per million man-hours, London Underground has 0.32 accidents and Delhi Metro Phase-II has 0.4 accidents.” That was reassuring.
But it’s the news reports that give me the laughs. Gammon India, the contractor handling the stretch where part of the elevated track came crashing down, is handling work for the Bangalore Metro as well. And this is the same company that did not follow standard operating procedure in Hyderabad thereby killing two persons when pre-cast blocks for a flyover collapsed in September 2007.
You don’t find that funny? Allow me to elaborate.
Grave as the situation may be, the Bangalore Metro follow-ups do not merit front page treatment. After all, we live in a city that needs a traffic cop to man traffic on a flyover. The authorities call it the Richmond Circle flyover. I call it Edward Scissorhands. Where else in the world have you seen a flyover where traffic has to move in to the right lane from the left and vice-versa? There is a flyover in Chennai where you have to take a very sharp left to avoid falling off the bridge, but even that doesn’t come close to what our engineers in Bangalore have built.
What do come close to the monstrosity in Chennai are our tragic boxes (the authorities call them magic boxes). You must sample the one near Windsor Manor. The underpass gives you a sense of the proverbial “elephant passing through the eye of the needle”. And the moment you emerge out of it, you have to take a sharp right and floor the gas pedal on a crude cement surface that some like to call a “road”. Stay on that road some more and you get to the Cauvery Junction. T J S George wrote a beautiful and sarcastic piece about that “straight road” that becomes a U-turn there some weeks back in the Express. You should read it to understand what I’m trying to say.
If Bangalore has so far survived bad planning and engineering in terms of Scissorhands and Tragic Boxes, I’m sure it will also take cracks in Metro pillars in its stride.
After all, we live by a code: swalpa adjust maadi.
After a couple of accidents, in quick succession, at an under-construction line of the Delhi Metro, questions are being raised – by newspapers -- about the safety of the Bangalore Metro since it follows the same model.
It’s not that accidents during construction are anything new. London Metro has had to contend with it when a tunnel collapsed on the Heathrow high-speed line. Similarly, a tunnel collapsed in Singapore during the construction for the MRT line, claiming four lives. During a press conference after the accidents, Delhi Metro chief E Sreedharan had this to say: “The DMRC accident rate is still very low as compared to international standards as Singapore has 1.1 accidents per million man-hours, London Underground has 0.32 accidents and Delhi Metro Phase-II has 0.4 accidents.” That was reassuring.
But it’s the news reports that give me the laughs. Gammon India, the contractor handling the stretch where part of the elevated track came crashing down, is handling work for the Bangalore Metro as well. And this is the same company that did not follow standard operating procedure in Hyderabad thereby killing two persons when pre-cast blocks for a flyover collapsed in September 2007.
You don’t find that funny? Allow me to elaborate.
Grave as the situation may be, the Bangalore Metro follow-ups do not merit front page treatment. After all, we live in a city that needs a traffic cop to man traffic on a flyover. The authorities call it the Richmond Circle flyover. I call it Edward Scissorhands. Where else in the world have you seen a flyover where traffic has to move in to the right lane from the left and vice-versa? There is a flyover in Chennai where you have to take a very sharp left to avoid falling off the bridge, but even that doesn’t come close to what our engineers in Bangalore have built.
What do come close to the monstrosity in Chennai are our tragic boxes (the authorities call them magic boxes). You must sample the one near Windsor Manor. The underpass gives you a sense of the proverbial “elephant passing through the eye of the needle”. And the moment you emerge out of it, you have to take a sharp right and floor the gas pedal on a crude cement surface that some like to call a “road”. Stay on that road some more and you get to the Cauvery Junction. T J S George wrote a beautiful and sarcastic piece about that “straight road” that becomes a U-turn there some weeks back in the Express. You should read it to understand what I’m trying to say.
If Bangalore has so far survived bad planning and engineering in terms of Scissorhands and Tragic Boxes, I’m sure it will also take cracks in Metro pillars in its stride.
After all, we live by a code: swalpa adjust maadi.
A wish for Karnataka
Silly season is finally over in Karnataka and come May 16 you will be bombarded with analyses about why a particular candidate won or lost. Back-of-the-envelope calculations show that the BJP is still on a strong wicket – and just might be able to retain its earlier Lok Sabha tally of 18. If that happens, expect the opposition in Karnataka to raise a hue and cry over missing names from the voters’ list. There will also be the expected breast-beating over how the ruling party managed to pump in huge amounts of money to engineer a thumping win. By its own admission, the Congress said during the campaigning phase that it wouldn’t be able to match the deep pockets of the BJP. That probably means that the Congress has admitted that it won’t be able to do much in Karnataka. That also means that the JD(S) will finish as an also-ran. That also means that Karnataka is indeed getting a step-motherly treatment from the Centre – considering that the Congress doesn’t have enough money for its state unit even though it rules at the Centre.
Whatever be the result, bigger problems are staring Karnataka in the face. The spectre of communal violence looms large. While some say that emboldened by its win the BJP will try to make a statement, others are of the opinion that mischief-makers will try to bring a bad name to the first BJP government south of the Vindhyas.
That the stand-off between the communities will only intensify was evident from the way Dakshina Kannada voted. Here’s a recap for those who came in late: Attacks on churches, a pub and incidents of moral policing had set the agenda for the elections in this coastal constituency.
In its reportage from Mangalore, The New Indian Express said, “For the first time, the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) used e-mails to send the Ten Commandments to all Bishops in India. These commandments, scripted by Bishop Ivon Ambroise, defined the role of a Christian during polls.” So on V-Day, Christians, who are generally cool to elections in Mangalore, voted in large numbers, as did other minorities. When news spread of the large turnout among Christians and minorities, Hindu leaders went around the constituency ensuring that all votes were cast in order to counter the “threat”. The result: 75 per cent voting in the constituency.
Karnataka is known for its accommodating nature and mild-mannered people. The phrase that an outsider first picks up in Karnataka – swalpa adjust maadi – bears testimony to the large-heartedness of the people here. Hope when governance kicks in after May 16, Mr Y and his Cabinet colleagues will ensure that nobody takes advantage of the situation and steers them away from the path of progress.
Whatever be the result, bigger problems are staring Karnataka in the face. The spectre of communal violence looms large. While some say that emboldened by its win the BJP will try to make a statement, others are of the opinion that mischief-makers will try to bring a bad name to the first BJP government south of the Vindhyas.
That the stand-off between the communities will only intensify was evident from the way Dakshina Kannada voted. Here’s a recap for those who came in late: Attacks on churches, a pub and incidents of moral policing had set the agenda for the elections in this coastal constituency.
In its reportage from Mangalore, The New Indian Express said, “For the first time, the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) used e-mails to send the Ten Commandments to all Bishops in India. These commandments, scripted by Bishop Ivon Ambroise, defined the role of a Christian during polls.” So on V-Day, Christians, who are generally cool to elections in Mangalore, voted in large numbers, as did other minorities. When news spread of the large turnout among Christians and minorities, Hindu leaders went around the constituency ensuring that all votes were cast in order to counter the “threat”. The result: 75 per cent voting in the constituency.
Karnataka is known for its accommodating nature and mild-mannered people. The phrase that an outsider first picks up in Karnataka – swalpa adjust maadi – bears testimony to the large-heartedness of the people here. Hope when governance kicks in after May 16, Mr Y and his Cabinet colleagues will ensure that nobody takes advantage of the situation and steers them away from the path of progress.
Auto-matic route to solving B’lore’s traffic problems
A few years back, a friend and I took an auto in Delhi. When we reached our destination, the meter showed more than twice the fare. To be fair to the auto driver, he admitted that the meter was rigged. When we asked him why he could not earn his daily bread the honest way, his reply left us speechless. This is what he said, essentially: “I have to pay a bribe at the RTO to get a licence. I have to pay extra to my owner every day because he thinks I earn more than what I claim. I have to pay the traffic policemen nearly every day to stay out of trouble. If you can get those guys to get straight, I will too.”
The scene is not very different in Bangalore today. Despite over 80,000 autos running in the city, it’s hard to find one who is honest. And boy, don’t even get me started on their driving skills. They are champions at multi-tasking. They can drive (if you can call it that) while constantly scouting for passengers. And when they do find one, they have no qualms about stopping in the middle of the road, others be damned.
A pedestrian would find it hard to walk between two vehicles but not your auto-wallah. No sir. He can squeeze his pesky little machine through the eye of a needle, if given a chance. He will turn first and look for oncoming traffic later. And when you finally manage to arrive in one piece, you will have a heart attack just looking at the fare and arguing with him.
No politician or bureaucrat has been able to tame the louts that rule the roads of any city in India. Long years back, Delhi set up a helpline and fast-tracked complaints made by passengers. Nothing happened. The traffic police conducted regular drives against erring autos. Nothing happened. Then the Delhi government brought in the Metro and modern buses. Everything changed. The auto-wallah – faced with increasing competition – softened a little bit. He still charges the moon for short distances but I hear from friends in Delhi that the fights with the auto-wallah, which were a regular affair earlier, are now few and far between.
What Bangalore needs to do is pretty much the same, and then some more. Convert autos into mini buses and make most of the auto-wallahs part of a cooperative that runs these buses – and is accountable for any lapses/misbehaviour.
Our traffic problems will be solved to a great extent if all autos are taken off the main roads. Some of the drivers could be given battery-run rickshaws to ply in residential areas, working as micro feeders. The moment they touch an arterial road, their role should be played by a mini bus that, in turn, acts as a feeder to the Kendra Saariges, the Big10s and the Vajras. Not only will that ensure smooth traffic flow and better revenue realization for the BMTC, it will also cut down on pollution.
But that is going to be a big task for the politician – as Housing and Muzrai minister V Somanna realized on Saturday. It’s not clear whether Somanna slapped BBMP assistant engineer Somaraju or just hurt his ego. What is clear is that Somaraju is still in hospital.
Imagine what will happen if the government decides to straighten the auto-wallahs, over 1 lakh of them.
Did somebody just say all hospitals in Bangalore are full?
The scene is not very different in Bangalore today. Despite over 80,000 autos running in the city, it’s hard to find one who is honest. And boy, don’t even get me started on their driving skills. They are champions at multi-tasking. They can drive (if you can call it that) while constantly scouting for passengers. And when they do find one, they have no qualms about stopping in the middle of the road, others be damned.
A pedestrian would find it hard to walk between two vehicles but not your auto-wallah. No sir. He can squeeze his pesky little machine through the eye of a needle, if given a chance. He will turn first and look for oncoming traffic later. And when you finally manage to arrive in one piece, you will have a heart attack just looking at the fare and arguing with him.
No politician or bureaucrat has been able to tame the louts that rule the roads of any city in India. Long years back, Delhi set up a helpline and fast-tracked complaints made by passengers. Nothing happened. The traffic police conducted regular drives against erring autos. Nothing happened. Then the Delhi government brought in the Metro and modern buses. Everything changed. The auto-wallah – faced with increasing competition – softened a little bit. He still charges the moon for short distances but I hear from friends in Delhi that the fights with the auto-wallah, which were a regular affair earlier, are now few and far between.
What Bangalore needs to do is pretty much the same, and then some more. Convert autos into mini buses and make most of the auto-wallahs part of a cooperative that runs these buses – and is accountable for any lapses/misbehaviour.
Our traffic problems will be solved to a great extent if all autos are taken off the main roads. Some of the drivers could be given battery-run rickshaws to ply in residential areas, working as micro feeders. The moment they touch an arterial road, their role should be played by a mini bus that, in turn, acts as a feeder to the Kendra Saariges, the Big10s and the Vajras. Not only will that ensure smooth traffic flow and better revenue realization for the BMTC, it will also cut down on pollution.
But that is going to be a big task for the politician – as Housing and Muzrai minister V Somanna realized on Saturday. It’s not clear whether Somanna slapped BBMP assistant engineer Somaraju or just hurt his ego. What is clear is that Somaraju is still in hospital.
Imagine what will happen if the government decides to straighten the auto-wallahs, over 1 lakh of them.
Did somebody just say all hospitals in Bangalore are full?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)