Political
Diary
New Delhi, 5 April 20116
Kolkata Bridge Collapse
“WHICH PART FELL,
YOURS OR MINE?”
By Poonam I
Kaushish
"What's the
use of coming now? They are already dead. All are dead. The Administration is
hopeless, useless," angrily shouted the residents of Burra Bazaar in
Kolkota. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Day after day, month by month anguished
wails pierce India’s
comatose dark skies. As our netagan
continue to glibly
parrot trivia and get their knickers in knots. Standing testimony that the aam aadmi translates into a sterile statistic!
True, the dastardly collapse of an under-construction 2km
long flyover on street vendors and vehicles, killing at least 26, injuring 75 with
150 still buried under the concrete and steel bridge debris in the West Bengal Capital
is heart-wrenching.
But more horrifying is the reaction of our leaders.
Asserted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, “Construction began
during CPM’s time; I have cancelled my election meetings and come here.”
Countered the Left, “Which part of the flyover has collapsed? The portion built
during our regime or under Trinamool? Mamata is making an excuse to escape
responsibility.” Added the BJP for good measure, “There should be a CBI inquiry
it is a clear case of corruption.” While the construction firm dusted it off by
heaping blame on God!
Importantly, given our polity’s penchant for short-cuts and
quick-fix solutions, what else can one expect, but this ghisa-pitta reaction? Spotlighting once again there cavalier and
churlish attitude and approach to a crisis.
Not for them the need to elucidate damage control measures, put the
disaster in proper perspective and keep calm.
Raising a moot point? Why was the contract given to a
company already blacklisted? Was it for a few extra bucks in private pockets? Does
Mamata not know that her State Government too has a stake in the flyover’s ownership
which has been under construction since 2009 and missed several deadlines for
completion?
Why did she ignore project engineers concerns over hurrying
construction to complete it by February so that she could take credit and
garner votes in the polls? Does it condone and justify the State Government’s
delayed action, bad planning, unscientific approach and mismanagement? Why haven’t the CPM and Trinamool Ministers
who awarded the flyover contract been arrested? Who will bear the cross for the
State Administration laxity?
Predictably, the incident has sparked a raging debate about
corruption in the country, with many saying that kickbacks resulted in sub-standard
material being used, lack of inspection and health and safety standards were
ignored resulting in the crumple. More scandalous, the State Administration did
not learn any lesson from another flyover’s collapse three years ago.
Undoubtedly, construction projects have long been plagued by
dubious ties between politicians and businessmen. Think since 2007 over five
flyovers have collapsed killing and maiming hundreds in Hyderabad,
Mumbai, Muzaffarpur, Surat and Delhi. All due to the same reasons: Sand
instead of cement, low-quality steel etc. But it is no water off our leaders
back.
Clearly, underscoring the real filth is political and
administrative. Alas, gone are the days when Shastri concurred that he was duty
bound as head of the Ministry to shoulder responsibility and resigned in 1956
following a train accident. Today, we
are captive of double standards and skullduggeries wherein demands for
responsibility and resignations are dismissed by are netas as political redundancies.
Look at Mamata's track record: As erstwhile Union Railway
Minister from 2009-11 over 250 passengers lost their lives in train accidents.
But not only did she refuse to take responsibility, conveniently dismissing it
as “the drivers’ human error” and refused to resign.
Ditto, ex-Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s response
to farmers’ suicide in Maharashtra. He too attributed
these to vagaries of nature, instead of owning up to faulty planning and giving
fertile land to builders for ugly sky-scrapers for a few pennies more. Why
blame the flyover construction firm for following suit then?
Of course, RJD’s Laloo gave accountability and acquiescence an
all together new meaning. Asked whether he would resign taking moral
responsibility for a rail accident in 2005, his response was telling: “People
have elected us to take responsibility as Ministers, not to run away from it.”
Ex-Prime Minister VP Singh elevated resignation to a high
political art. Effectively, converting the moral act in to an instrument for
furthering personal political goals, gaining public sympathy as a selfless
leader.
Resignation from office, as we know it now, is no more a suo motu high act, it is a part of the
game of political expediency. Where do we go from here? It all depends on our netagan.
Perhaps it is time for the Government to realize that
economic reform without reforms in the social sectors can become a bane in
themselves. In an open economy, as Kolkata’s disaster shows, the entire system
can crumble if the social sectors are weak and fragile
Undoubtedly, India
is in the throes of an all-round crisis: Social, environmental and moral
degradation, Look at our appalling state of our healthcare systems which makes
us particularly vulnerable to a disease. The Government spends less than one
per cent of its GDP on public health care.
According to the WHO, our national average is only 45
doctors and 8.9 beds for every 100,000 patients, with the levels far lower in
poorest States. Add to this a highest annual death toll due to tuberculosis,
malaria, dengue and cholera. Worse, sky-rocketing pollution levels of not only
the Union Capital but other cities also.
Worse, there is only one doctor for 28 villages with over
20,000 people. When he is away on call all is left to God. According to UNICEF
nearly 136,000 maternal deaths out of 30 million pregnancies occur annually,
most of which are easily preventable.
Shockingly, the recent death of a 40-year old dentist by
miscreants who bludgeoned him to death with iron rods and bricks in front of
his wife and son in Delhi
illuminates the rising crime graph in every city. His fault? Reprimanding two
motorcyclists for driving rashly. The police helpline number was constantly
engaged and PCR vans were missing. So much for our law enforcers protecting us!
What next? Time our polity has respect for human life and puts
in place efficient administrative and political machinery. They need to restore
the State’s Iqbal, enforce strict law
and order and its moral authority.
It is now imperative for our leaders to rethink its
strategies, establish fresh priorities, improve service delivery in rail and
road management, public services and establish close links between research and
policy with people at the centre of social development.
The Government can no longer bury its head in the sand.
Conferences of Ministers, Secretaries and directives from the Centre to the
States will not do. The time is for gone for the Government to play the pied
piper coupled with its accompanying ki
pharak painda hai attitude. Will the future generation be weighed down by
our moribund and politricking leaders albatross round its neck? And aver: Achcha who mar gaya kya?---- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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