C'da, Thanks for the posting. Tavleen always does a good job of bringing these issues to the forefront - and legitimately so.
TS correctly zeroes in on corruption as the root cause. But even TS will agree that there are stark differences even in this corruption when it comes to Assam and a state like Maharastra. Questions for you and Tavleen: Will Maharastra tolerate frequent and long drawn out load sheddings? How many villages in Maharastra are electrified (as compared to Assam) How many driveable road miles are there in Assam and Maharastra What % of the roads in Maharastra are absolutely deplorable (again as compared to Assam). No, these are just questions to ponder, and most of us know the answers. Comparing problems in Mumbai to those in Assam is like comparing NYC to Mumbai. It is mind-boggling as to why we have such a high degree of tolerance toward large scale corruption that is throttling the very life out of the state? Basically, it does not even matter if the rest of the states are more corrupt than Assam. They may be able to afford that luxury, Assam cannot. --Ram On 11/27/06, Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I am re-posting the following for Ram and Sandip Dutta to read, before I return back to the discussions. cm Horrible Condition of our Roads On the Spot Tavleen Singh The first convoy of official cars I encountered, driving to Pune last week, flew saffron flags on every car of the size you normally see atop temples. My driver spotted Bal Thakeray in one of the white ambassadors. No sooner did we pass Mcdonald's in Panvel (a travellers' watering hole) than I spotted another official convoy. This time no saffron flags, only a car filled with policemen in front of a grey Land Cruiser behind which was another car also filled with policemen and officials. Alone in the back of the Land Cruiser sat Sharad Pawar. The coincidence of encountering Maharashtra's two most powerful political leaders on the same journey made me reflect upon the role of politics in preventing India from building the infrastructure it so badly needs. Pawar and Thakeray would have driven down the same road I had taken from Mumbai so they could not have failed to notice its condition. It is no longer a road so much as a dirt track on which you bump your way from ditch to ditch to ditch. This is after you have driven bumper to bumper past Chembur's hideous slums where public toilets are so clogged that people prefer to squat along the main road beside the rotting garbage in which pigs, dogs and barefoot children scrabble for food. Did Mr Pawar notice? Did Mr Thakeray who has built a political career out of inciting Marathi pride? Mumbai is Maharashtra's proudest possession. Any talk of it being taken out of the State Government's control causes hackles to rise across political divisions and yet none of this State's mighty leaders appears to have paid any attention to the most basic requirements of social infrastructure: clean water, sanitation and housing. Had they paid attention, then instead of slums in Chembur there would have been affordable housing for the poor. Instead of evil slum lords there would have been legitimate real estate companies controlling the housing market. As for the dreadful condition of Indian roads, please allow nobody to fool you into believing that our roads are bad because of a shortage of funds. They are bad mainly because they have been built to last no longer than a single season of rain. Why? Perhaps because the contractors who build them are well connected enough to be given the same contract every year. You notice this more on the drive from Mumbai to Pune than on any other road because when you get onto the expressway you realize that India can build roads that do not collapse with the rain. Once you get onto the expressway you drive along the best road in India that has remained totally intact despite this year's unprecedented rainfall. When I asked a friend in the construction business why this was so he said, "Simple. The Mumbai-Pune expressway was built by responsible construction companies with reputations to protect.* Usually roads are built either by faceless* *CPWD engineers or by small contractors with big connections."* So one of the flaws in the system is that political leaders hand out major road contracts to builders who would not pre-qualify to build a public toilet in a more sensible country. The reason for this is that the system we devised for these things places total emphasis on cost and none on quality. He who makes the lowest bid wins the contract, so to cover his costs he cuts corners and uses cheap materials and outdated technology. He could not care less if the road he builds does not survive a single monsoon because he has, more often than not, a connection high up enough for him to get the contract to rebuild the road again and again.* This is true across the length and breadth of our dear Bharat Mata which is why we are internationally renowned for having* *the worst roads in the world.* I got off the expressway at Chinchwad which is one of Maharashtra's leading industrial towns. Many of India's biggest manufacturing companies have factories here and the municipality is believed to be one of our richest but the road I drove down was so narrow and gutted that I was stuck in an hour long traffic jam consisting mainly of massive articulated lorries with names like MAERSK painted on their sides. The eternal clash between the new 'emerging' economy and our ancient, socialist infrastructure. The clash would not exist if only we could get our political leaders to understand that unless they put infrastructure (both social and physical) at the top of their list of priorities we will still be talking about our 'potential' to be an economic superpower fifty years from now. If we can just build the roads and do something about the appalling state of our cities and towns we can start making our economic superpower dream a reality in the next five years.* These were the gloomy thoughts of your humble columnist as I drove past a sign that warned motorists to be careful on the upcoming* *bridge because its condition was 'dangerous.'* If we were really on our way to superpowerdom then instead of the sign we would have seen a repaired bridge. I could go on and on and on. Recommend this page _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
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