This is about something close to home that has been irking me no end for a long time. A tiny stretch of highway in a more or less permanently hopeless condition has been making an otherwise swift and pleasurable road trip to Kolkata a nightmare, and nobody really seems to care.
As I think I have said before, I regard the building of this new highway as one of the few unequivocally good things that have happened to this town in the last forty years. It has cut down travelling time to half, made driving a pleasure rather than a nasty chore, and greatly increased land values in and around Durgapur, among other things. It comes back to me that back in December 2000, when we were going to Asansol to catch a train for a holiday trip, we were marvelling at how much smoother and wider the road now was. And already at that time we were talking about how all the ‘flyovers’ had made things simpler for highway drivers (much of the time on the road earlier was spent idling at railway crossings), and how only a little narrow congested stretch through Panagarh was keeping things from being idyllic: how it had become essential for the road and bridge to be widened, and for a flyover to be thrown over the crowded market stretch.
In the years that followed, the luxury Volvo buses came into regular service, and travelling by road became a dream: I have sometimes done the trip in two and a half hours flat, sleeping comfortably all the way. Things had changed so much that the airconditioned coaches in the trains were rarely filled up any more. And yet, there was this one nagging glitch: people in thousands of buses, cars and trucks got stuck for long spells at traffic jams only at Panagarh.
And now, with the road in that short stretch having become filled with potholes and frequently waterlogged, the nightmare has returned in full force. People are getting stuck for hours together, and accidents, even fatal ones, have become a daily routine, as this news report takes note. I find it strange to think that despite the daily suffering of so many people, and the colossal waste of time and money, the authorities are dragging their feet over making essential repairs, leave alone starting construction of that long-delayed flyover. Ten years is not enough to address a major public grievance in this country, which, as so many people insist, is ‘progressing’ very rapidly. Apparently even the land needed to widen the road was acquired as long ago as 2003, and yet! If I know the authorities concerned (and I learnt a great deal about them in my journalistic days), the district magistrate would pass the buck to the National Highway Authority, who would in turn blame either the finance ministry for not coughing up the funds needed or the local politicians for creating hindrances every inch of the way, who in all probability would point at the strenuous objections of the hundreds of shopkeepers of various descriptions whose establishments line both sides of the road – objections which couldn’t be addressed one way or the other in a whole decade! As my father used to say, ‘Not taking a decision is itself a decision, and that is one thing we Indians are congenitally good at.’ I wonder: would this kind of a logjam have been allowed to persist for so long in either a capitalist country like Germany or a communist dispensation like China? Or is there something special about India that cannot be understood in terms of these paradigms?
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10 comments:
The shopkeepers and garage owners along that particular stretch -- must have heavy political clout to hold off for 10 long years. And as per the Telegraph report, NHAI is contemplating building a 90+ km bye-pass skirting Panagarh! As if that particular stretch is equivalent to the famous Las Vegas Strip and just can't be touched.
And Sir, as you mused, these things are indeed India specific. There is just no answer to these issues. Maybe it's because of our 'sab chalta hai' attitude; 2 steps forward 1 step backward attitude; start off something enthusiastically and then lose steam and interest midway attitude etc.
Regards,
Sunup
What can I say? Igo back to Durgapur after many years and every time it is the same...
Dear Sir,
Since I go home every Sunday, I have to face this nightmare twice a week and my mother renamed Panagarh as 'Jamgarh'. And needless to say, every time I see two long lines of lorries on either side of the road. I consider myself lucky if I am able to reach Durgapur by four hours these days.
Leaving aside the ever-delayed flyover, even if the road is repaired and the vehicles stick to their lanes (handled by efficient police), the condition can become much better. And what's more annoying is that the very few days in which RAF operates, it's a smooth ride. And once they disappear, it's back to the nightmare.
Thanks and with regards,
Sayantika
Dear Sir,
Only 4 days back I missed my flight to Mumbai thanks to the Panagarh road block. It was an early morning take-off and I had left from home with a good one hour buffer. Yet, I did not manage to make it on time. Needless to say I lost out on a lot of hard-earned money (got Rs.300 back on cancellation and an on-the-spot booking cost me another bomb) I have sworn never to take the highway again, unless of course I become a millionaire.
My sympathies, Chitra. I personally know scores of people who have suffered worse traumas in recent times, including people accompanying patients who have just suffered heart attacks and strokes. But someone in Durgapur should have told you that a mere one hour buffer was a very bad idea - you should have set out with at least four hours to spare.
I wish you better luck next time. If I had to take an early morning flight from Kolkata, I'd travel the previous afternoon and stay the night with someone, or in a hotel not far from the airport.
I know Sir. This stretch of Panagarh will forever have an impression in my mind. My life turned around it. As you might remember that way back in 2007 my father had an accident, a collision of a rented Tata Sumo and a truck, after which he was in coma for 2 months and till date he is bed-ridden, paralysed and incapable of even communicating with people. Thanks for writing about it. Wish you well. Abir.
Hello, is that Abir Bhattacharya? The news is heartbreaking - as it is with me every time I hear that someone I knew has been a victim. I do, do hope your father will recover fully, and soon.
I write this sort of thing in the faint hope that someday our country will become civilized in the sense that we will all take more responsibility, not imagining that accidents only happen to 'other people'. As of now, that collective will to improve things is lacking, though the casualty toll becomes grotesquely higher with every passing year. We are still obsessed with the notion that progress should be measured simply by more cars, mobiles, TV channels and shopping malls...
Yes Sir that was me. While this is one extreme of the story, there is another extreme of the story in China. Recently I was looking a documentary in which China, to build upon its GDP, simply constructed a deserted city full of skyscrapers and a giant shopping mall. There are about 5 odd employees in the shopping mall and almost all the skyscrapers doesn't have any tenant at all. This despite so many people living in the slums. That way of increasing GDP is meaningless. But this is a different story of a different country. And yes, as you told, the priorities of development have gone the wrong way. In the institutes be it IIT, or any other, they concentrate on replacing concrete floors with floors made of tiles or marble, rather than getting new instruments. So much is wasted the wrong way. Since I am an organic chemist I would say the chemistry labs in US look rather shabby than some of those in India. But they are more developed because they got more instruments, and have their priorities right. I agree that US is rich and can have more infrastructure, but now in US too, like in India, there is always a monetary shortage and that's where they think about their priorities. In India whether they have money or not the priority is always corruption. But there is a new chief minister now, who seems to have her priorities right. Let's see how far she delivers on her words. Abir.
Abir, I hope that your father recovers soon....
I'll comment sometime on the main contents of this post another day because it stays in my head, and much like other times I'm reduced to praying.
One thing I'll mention is that I've been feeling more and more that Americans (in spite of their much touted individualism) are much more collective in spirit when it comes to maintaining fantastic libraries, clean surroundings, and good roads, and preserving or conserving natural surroundings in a sensible way...and there is much, much more there that is good and right but also much that doesn't make any sense and much that is bad or wrong.
So, I have to object about the priorities bit. This is public information, and so I'm not revealing anything that I mustn't - but the football coach at my university (Purdue) makes half a million dollars as his yearly salary, and he received a raise just this last year. It is a network that's operating. Sure. Sponsors and where money comes and how much and for what and why...but monetary shortage? - I am forced to say a very polite, 'give me a break'...
Sir,
Strange and sad how nothing has been done about it in even three years time. It is still the same, and we still face the same difficulties and there is a constant fear that we will be stuck in the traffic jam.
Baba, who travels everyday on that road complains about how that is the stretch which takes almost an hour to cross. If he is lucky he gets through in not less than 45 minutes. If only for that stretch the drive is such a pleasure. But alas! I don't think anything will be done about it, ever...
Sriranjani
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