By Azizur Rahman
I have had the opportunity to stay in four metros namely Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai. Though Bangalore is not officially a metro, I am assuming it so, as it is nowhere less bad than any other metro. As of now I am staying in Chennai and enjoying the metroness of this city.
Be it Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi or Mumbai, all of them have one thing in common. And that is the acute lack of infrastructure. We don’t have proper transport system; we don’t have convenient roads; and we don’t have enough sanitation. It is ridiculous that we boast of becoming super power in near future; we dare to host the Common Wealth Games and F1; we try to build world class airports and keep dreaming of elevating many other things to world-class, while even the metros have no class.
Stuck in traffic [TCN Photo]
It is a daily routine for people of these metros to witness the nauseating scenes of stinking garbage along roads and streets. Blocked drains are a common phenomenon. The scene becomes even worse whenever there is a rain. Most of the roads get waterlogged or flooded, and the open drains lose their identity causing serious problem for the civilians. Even more interesting is the way the people manage to walk on roads and streets, as they seem more to be acting rather than going their normal way.
The transport facility is absolutely pathetic. As most of the people can’t afford their own transport, they are compelled to travel by public transport. The people are forced to travel in inhuman conditions, as there is always a jostling crowd in buses, not even allowing people to balance themselves properly, and moreover letting them enjoy from the fragrance and temperature of each other’s body. I fail to understand as to why the government is hell bent on treating people like beast. Are the common people not human beings; do they not have any dignity; and do they not have any right to travel in a human manner. Instead of increasing the frequency of buses, the government seems to be intended towards maximizing the profit through stuffing people into buses like that of stuffing a blanket with cotton.
This situation is worsened even more as we don’t have proper roads. As per my experience hardly forty percent of the roads would be proper and convenient, while it would be an adventure to travel on the rest sixty percent of the roads, where even a dead would become alive due to hard-hitting jerks and shudders caused by ditches and potholes. This is the state of our metros let alone non-metro cities and rural areas.
In the light of the above, do we first need to host common wealth games and F1; do we need to build world class airport terminals; do we need to dream of becoming superpower; while we are not able to repair even our road potholes; we are not able to keep our roads and streets clean; and we are not able to have a convenient and safe transport system.
First of all we should ensure that each and every citizen is living as a dignified person and is not being treated like a beast, and then think of competing with other nations to become a superpower. To dream of becoming a superpower, without addressing these basic issues, is tantamount to aspiring for sword while you don’t have even a needle.