Eyes on the road and hands upon the wheel

 

Amitabh Shukla 

You cannot have a decent quality life anywhere in the country without quality roads: Whether you go to school or cycle to work, whether your trip is on the tractor to the local mandi or a long drive in a sleek car...

For a lot of fellow citizens, the vast expanse of black bitumen on roads, unbroken and serpentine stretches, with wide expanses of the countryside and the hills unfolding, sends the adrenaline pumping. Ask those who travel on many bitumen wonders or highways of the country and they will swear by the excitement driving on them has to offer.

Driving is not only a stress buster but also a learning experience. Nature, people, aspirations, food, culture, society, the economy… you name it. Being based in Chandigarh is of great help when planning a long drive due to its geographical advantage — it lies in the foothills of the Shivalik range and the great Indian plain ends here. The joint capital of Punjab and Haryana is perched on the edge of the vast expanse of the Indo-Gangetic belt, the mainstay of Indian agriculture since the Indus Valley Civilization. So, one has the best of both geographical worlds, the hills and the plains, in front of one, a diversity which is rare in any part of the world.

I may be a travel junkie and love driving for the fun of it plus I can select very good highways in the vicinity to hit the road, but for a majority of the people in the country the use of roads is an everyday necessity. You cannot have a decent quality life anywhere in the country without quality roads. Whether you go to school or cycle to work, whether you go to the local mandi on your tractor to offload your produce in a bullock cart or whether you are on a road trip in a sleek car. In many ways, the first contact of a citizen with the effectiveness or lack thereof of a Government is the road s/he uses to get from Point A to Point B.

The National Highway I, for example, which connects Delhi to the two prosperous States of Punjab and Haryana, takes you to Himachal Pradesh on the one hand and Jammu & Kashmir on the other. There would hardly be any decision-maker in the Capital or in the four northern States who must not be using this road for travel purposes. The stretch between Panipat and Jalandhar should have been converted into six-lane in 2011 but it was left to the Supreme Court to issue directions to the concessionaire which ensured the completion of the project only recently.

This project should now be used as a case study in school management how not to build new road projects. It should also be used as a case study to give contracts for other road projects so that they do not get into legal wrangles and cost over runs. Drive ahead to Jalandhar in Punjab and one would find a major flyover stuck in legal mess for years together on the national highway. Every motorist, who use the highway, curse the authorities as it spoils the pleasure of their journey.

Further, there’s yet another expressway which should have been built years ago — the much awaited Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway — which is expected to reduce vehicular congestion and as a result, pollution in the Capital but has perpetually been under construction with one legal issue or the other cropping up every time. This can be yet another case study of a project in the management of schools with the chapter saying: How not to build a road; KMP case study!

What perplexes me the most is that most national highways have perpetually been under construction since years. Most of them are being six-laned. Two decades back, the National Highways Authority of India  was under the process of converting the highways into four-lanes. I wonder whether construction and widening would be a permanent feature of the roads. Half a decade from now, the need will be of eight-lane roads and maybe 15-20 years down, the volume of traffic may force the authorities to have 20-lane roads.

One fails to understand what prevents the authorities from constructing 12-lane roads straight away in important stretches, keeping in view the traffic scenario of 2040? It does not require rocket science to know that the number of vehicles on roads keep increasing everyday and vehicles need space to move. I am sure after the six-laning of NH-8, which goes to Jaipur and Mumbai, the need will again be to make eight-laned roads in the next five years and then 10-laned roads in another 15 years from now. Why not build it today itself? If it’s not planned today, construction activities will continue all the time and one will hardly find a 200-250 km of expressway free from construction or broadening activities.

The Ambala-Zirakpur (Chandigarh) stretch was four-laned only six years ago and already the need is being felt to widen it to six-lane with multi-storied housing complexes coming in vicinity of Chandigarh and accompanying vehicles clogging the road. What worsens the situation is the fact that whenever a new stretch of road comes up, there is heightened economic activity around it. Housing colonies are built, shops, eateries and small scale establishments come up and even rural population shifts towards the road to take benefit of the new economic activity.

In the last few years, there has been hectic construction activity on NH from Delhi to Amritsar, Delhi to Jaipur and Delhi to Lucknow via Moradabad and Bareilly. Shifting of economic activity in and around the roads will lead to a situation where only a few stretches alongside the highway will be left for paddy or mustard fields as the remaining space will be gobbled up by commercial activities.

Coming back to the joy of travelling on the road, nothing can beat the hilarious shop sign — ‘child bear’ sold here. It’s only when you take the kids to see the baby bear and are confronted by a liquor shop selling ‘chilled beer’ that the truth dawns.

Trucks, however, rule the roost when it comes to innovative slogans. Most slogans appeared like works of fledgling litterateurs, who could not get their work published and, had rather taken to writing slogans on trucks as a career! Himmat hai to aage nikal, warna bardasht kar (If you are brave enough, overtake me, otherwise tolerate me), warned one frightening slogan. I was brave enough and overtook the truck without any fuss. The driver merely brought out an extended palm from the window of his huge vehicle and facilitated the overtake without taking the slogan written on his truck seriously.

Imagination ran wild in the case of some slogans. Recently, on a trip to Shimla, I thought the owner of one of the trucks or its driver was using abusive language when the slogan at the back said, Teri Ma ki. However, in equally bold letters followed Jai Ho. So, the entire slogan read: Teri Ma ki jai ho. I never came across such a slogan anywhere!

Another slogan said, Amiro ki zindagi biscuit aur cake par, driver ki zindagi clutch aur brake par. There were hundreds more. Tata phir milenge and buri nazar wale tera muh kala seemed to be written on maximum number of trucks and read like a national slogan of the big Indian beast that were the trucks with number plates identifying vehicles from far and wide including Orissa, West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab to Gujarat, Maharashtra and Kerala.

One fuel station on NH 1 was giving a bathing soap free for every 100 litres of diesel and the limit was 400 litres. Half a dozen of trucks and their drivers were lazing around early morning in the vicinity of the fuel station, giving an indication that marketing strategy indeed worked.

At another, if a driver had to use a clean toilet, he had to fill in fuel first. Fill the tank, get a slip and then show it to the guard in front of the toilet to ease yourself. Another private fuel station had kept a log book of the diesel filled in by a particular vehicle in a month. The prizes were good-set of steel glasses for 1,000 litres, briefcase for 2,000 litres, branded shirt so on and so forth.  Business on roads has become quite innovative over the months and years. Knowing about it is the perk of road travel. (17 Dec, 2017)  

 http://www.dailypioneer.com/sunday-edition/agenda/opinion/eyes-on-the-road-and-hands-upon-the-wheel.html

DAGSHAI, The Weekend Wonder

Amitabh Shukla 

Dagshai in Himachal Pradesh may only be a small hill station or rather a small Cantonment town, perched on top of a sunny hill on the highway to Shimla, but when you decide to take a detour and come here and spend a few hours, you are bound to enjoy the bounty which nature has to offer.

While going to Shimla from Delhi or Chandigarh, you cross Dharampur, a small Himachal town on the highway known for its eating joints, the most popular of which is undoubtedly the time tested Giani Da Dhaba. It may have been demolished now due to widening of the road and a new structure coming up in place of the old but not long ago it was difficult to find a seat here on the weekends. Ask the old students of numerous public schools around these hills and they will swear by its food. Now, a lot of other eateries have sprung up here, including those of popular food chains, and doing decent business but the work on four-laning of the road has ensured that this lively place now looks more like a dusty, war torn zone.

Anyway, just after you cross the main crowded market of Dharampur which also has a heritage railway station, there is a detour on the right to Dagshai. A signage of the Cantonment Board welcomes you to Dagshai, set up by the East India Company of the British, to escape the intense summer hills of the plains, 30 kms away.

In fact, so conscious were the British about their comfort that they set up three Cantonments nearby — Kasauli, Subathu (the birthplace of Gorkha regiment) and of course Dagshai in close proximity. Then, a little ahead is Shimla, the summer Capital of the British, which also has a significantly large military setting. Whenever I visit these areas, I wonder what the strategic importance of these Cantonments was in those days which prompted the British to set them up in the first place. The reason has to be only one — salubrious climate which reminded the British of their homes and the weather in England.

Of course, for travelers like me, Cantonment Boards like Dagshai, Subathu and Kasauli still are islands of cleanliness, devoid of commercialization which still preserves the old world charm. You can still find and romance with the glory of a bygone era in these three Cantonments in close proximity.

Back to Daghshai, what attracts a traveler like me is silence. This is what brings me back to this place every now and then. When I was in Class I or II, the teachers used to shout “pin drop silence” whenever the naughty boys were at play in the classroom. I never understood the meaning of pin drop silence in school, despite the teachers berating us and forcing us to do so. But here, in Dagshai, just choose any place off the stiff climb, sit there and all you would hear is “pin drop silence”. Even if you drop a pin, you could hear it falling here, literally. Of course, chirping of birds, the melody of flowing breeze, dancing leaves on the numerous trees as the gentle wind caresses them…these cannot be considered sound. This is nature’s magic.

There are no hotels to stay here. Dagshai is not meant for that. But even for a routine tourist, the place has several sightseeing options. The most prominent is a British era Jail — a formidable structure, this is popularly called the Cellular Jail of north India with 54 high security cells. Maintained by the Engineering Wing of the Indian Army, you can see how tough a jail life was in the British era for the Indian freedom fighters.

Irish soldiers, who served in the British Army and revolted in 1920 as part of a freedom movement back home in Ireland, were kept here during their trial. The mutineers were shot dead in a Capital punishment and buried in a cemetery in Dagshai. One of the Irish heroes James Daly, who was buried here for 50 years after taking part in the mutiny and then being shot  as a punishment, got a new resting place in his home country of Ireland in the 1970s. His mortal remains were taken to Ireland with military honours and he is still a celebrated hero back home.

Indian freedom fighters were also kept in the jail which has a wooden floor. This meant that even the slightest of sound was captured by the sentry who could raise an alarm. Four Indian freedom fighters of the famous Komagatamaru ship, all ex-servicemen, who were refused entry in Canada in 1914 had to return back where 20 of them were arrested on arrival and sent to the Dagshai jail. Four of them were hanged.

When I reached this jail and a small museum on a Sunday, it was closed for the afternoon. But the immaculately dressed friendly army sentry promptly opened the doors, saying that very few visitors come here.  He placed the visitor’s book for my comments. I simply wrote, “Had never seen a jail in my life before. I hope the world becomes crime free and jails become a thing of the past in the next century”. I could not even spend half an hour here and to imagine that freedom fighters spent years and were even awarded Capital punishment, was indeed a nightmarish experience.

The museum in the jail compound houses old photographs which recreates the history of the place and some memorabilia from the British period. The architecture of both the jail and the museum are typical British in green color which not only jell with the woody surroundings but also the entire material used has been procured locally.

Over to the cemetery, not used now but well known for several spooky stories built around it. The spooky stories started when the Irish soldiers were executed and buried here, triggering local rumours about their ghosts moving around. There are also local stories of unrequited love and untimely deaths which gave birth to a different genre of ghost stories. Old timers swear that they used to hear unfamiliar sounds.

During my brief visits to the cemetery twice in the recent past, all I could hear on the road above the cemetery was extreme silence—Nothing else. This was the final resting place for several army British officers and soldiers, forcing me to think how they could not even go to their birthplace for their final rest. Born in United Kingdom, died in India…that is what it should have been written on the epitaph. As the cemetery was neglected for years, stones and the written words are missing in most of them. I took a walk and only found squirrels surprise me with their deft and swift movement, colorful birds finding a perfect mating place, a hairy street dog watching me carefully from a distance. There was no ghost to encounter. 

There are boarding schools here, one for the army and at the other a public school and as part of learning nature, treks by school students in uniform are common, including in the cemetery area. I envied these kids. What a wonderful place to be in a boarding school—amid hills, nature, birds and clear blue sky devoid of smog and fog in the winters and intense heat and humidity of the winters.

The St Patrick’s Church, now hardly used came up with the small Cantonment town itself and is a typical colonial architecture, now attracting curious visitors, keen to know their history and heritage. Thick pine and oak trees ass to the charm of the place as you decide to take a walk all around the place and stare at the architectural marvel of a bygone era.

After spending the day roaming around all over the quite Catonment cum hill station, sipping tea at a couple of tea stalls, munching some snacks and also closing your eyes for a quick nap on one of the numerous benches and shades, overlooking wonderful valleys, drive down to Kumarhatti on the other side of the hillock where Dagshai is located. The stiff down hill drive will take you to the crowded market and all of a sudden you will realise how important is solitude to a human life. How important it is to spend time in nature's company...How important it is to realise the value of silence and nothingness which envelops you in these marvels of nature. (November 20, 2017)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/dagshai-the-weekend-wonder.html

PUNJAB ELECTION TOO CLOSE TO CALL

 

Amitabh Shukla | Chandigarh

The first ever triangular fight in Punjab in several decades has thrown open several political possibilities in the border State as the electorate go for their choice for the next five years on Saturday.

Battling an extremely strong two-term anti incumbency, the ruling Shiromani Akal Dal and the BJP have ceded considerable space to the rookie Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), particularly in the crucial Malwa belt having 69 of the 117 Assembly segments.

A late announcement of support by the Sirsa (Haryana) based Dera Sacha Sauda to the SAD-BJP combine is cutting both ways and is expected to neutralise the gains of the ruling combine. The hardline Sikhs are opposed to the Dera ever since its head, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, was allegedly seen in a dress similar to Guru Gobind Singh in 2007 and are strongly opposing the support extended by the Dera, saying the SAD is “shedding its panthic colours” by taking such support and now has little regard for Sikh sentiments.

Interestingly, after the Dera support to SAD-BJP, the AAP has managed to get the support of the radical Sikhs who were still undecided whom to vote for. Already getting the support of the fringe radicals, extremists and others who were opposed to the moderate Akali style of politics, the latest development seems to have consolidated the panthic (religious) votes for AAP which hitherto went to SAD.

“The AAP is the new Akali Dal,” summed up a senior party leader in Chandigarh, adding that the aspirations of the Sikhs in the new millennium was consistently ignored by the Akali Dal. No wonder SAD, claiming to be the custodian of the Sikh heritage and religion ever since it fought against the Mahants to take control of the Gurdwaras in the early last century, is feeling threatened like never before. If AAP manages to encroach cadre votes of the Akalis, the party would be headed for its worst ever performance in decades. What is more, this would considerably damage its prospects in future elections.

What eroded the cadre vote bank of the Akalis was a series of desecration incidents of Guru Granth Sahib in the last two years and the perception of the common Sikhs that the Government did not do anything to arrest the culprits and prevent the incidents. The developmental plank of the SAD-BJP alliance did not work as it should have given the high expectations of the people in the second term.

The controversy of five high priests exonerating Gurmeet Ram Rahim of blasphemy in October 2015 (allegedly at the instance of the government) and the Panj Piyaras (five beloved) rising in revolt against the decision further eroded the credibility of the Akalis amongst the common Sikhs. The issue remains unresolved even as AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal tried to fish in troubled waters by meeting the Panj piyaras in the run up to the polls.

The Congress, on the other hand, had everything going for it in these polls after a long time. In recent years, the party is going to the polls on a common cause and projecting a united face. All factional and at times suicidal fights within the party came to an end as the larger cause was the defeat of the Akalis.

Political leaders in the State point out that the SAD-BJP Government had let lose a regime of persecution of their political opponents like the Congress through the “halqa in-charge” system. In this, the halqa in-charge was either a MLA or a defeated MLA or one appointed by SAD in an area co-terminus with the jurisdiction of a Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO). He was the one who issued directions to police to file cases against opponents and their family members.

Due to this regressive system of halqa in-charge, which finds no parallel in any other State, except perhaps the CPI-M in West Bengal during their heydays, the anti-incumbency against the Akalis increased manifold in the rural areas and Congress found itself to be a natural beneficiary. 

What helped the Congress further was appointment of Capt Amarinder Singh first as State Congress president and in the run-up to the polls as chief ministerial candidate of the party.

Amarinder reached out to his opponents within like Partap Singh Bajwa and Rajinder Kaur Bhattar and had a complete control on ticket distribution. The entry of Navjot Singh Sidhu in the party, though a little late in the day, energised the Congress cadres. Sidhu may not be a grassroots politician or may not last in politics as he is more of an intellectual asset but his crowd connect is immense. What Bhagwant Mann has done to AAP due to his crowd connect, Sidhu did for the Congress. The Punjabis loved his one liners against the father and son duo of Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Badal and he campaigned energetically throughout the State.

The BJP, a junior partner of the Akali Dal for a long time, lost the bus. Even though the party had little say in the alliance government and could never ever get the post of Deputy Chief Minister, the baggage of the big brother weighed heavy on it. Many in the party admit that In Punjab this time round, the party should have gone alone like it did in Maharashtra. “They could have projected Sidhu as a leader and parted ways with the Akalis six months ago,” said a senior party leader. He said Sidhu’s fight was against the Badals and not the BJP as such. 

Many in Punjab vouch that the main fight is between Congress and AAP in the state and SAD-BJP alliance is a distant third. Though support of Dera Sacha Sauda would help the ruling alliance in Malwa, but only partially. AAP could take a lead in Malwa belt on Congress. But it would be in Majha (Border districts) and Doaba (districts between Sutlej and Beas)  where the real battle would be fought. If AAP makes inroads into the dalit belt of Doaba and get a few seats in Majha, Punjab could go its way. Contrarily, if Congress takes control of Majha and manages its hold on the dalits of Doaba, besides a reasonable seats in Malwa, the State could go its way.

“It’s  a cliffhanger…very close,” that is the verdict of most of the political analysts in the State Capital Chandigarh.  (February 4, 2017)  

http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/punjab-election-too-close-to-call.html

SIMPLICITY IN GOVERNANCE IS THE USP OF KERALA

Amitabh Shukla | Thiruvanandapuram/ Kochi 

Simplicity in governance and accessibility of those in power to the people — that in short is Kerala for you. The contrast is all the more apparent if you come from the northern States.

A visit to the State Secretariat in the Capital Thiruvananthauram or Trivandrum was an eye-opener.  There was no obtrusive and visible security, people could directly approach the officials, bureaucrats and the Ministers for work and all you could see was accountability and answerability writ large.

Walking down the corridors of the Secretariat, we could see the name-plates of senior IAS officials—all in a row. You could simply knock at the door and enter their office with your complaint or grievance. There was no intermediary — a security officer or a PA or an orderly who would obstruct you and ask questions. Simplicity was the keyword here. All that Principal Secretaries get here is a PA and no more staff. Tea is ordered from the common canteen and the vendor serves it as there is no orderly attached even with the senior officers, heading their departments and in the IAS for 30 years. The building itself is over a century old and was originally constructed for the Travancore kingdom. It goes to the credit of successive State Governments that despite the absence of modern frills and the comforts, they have resisted any attempt to shift the Secretariat to a swanky building with all the related paraphernalia as several State Governments have done over the years.

None of this is visible in the northern States of Haryana, Punjab or other States where power or position means a battery of employees, hangers on and security personnel in tow. Those who want to meet officials will have to go through a drill of appointments, Personal Assistants and others whose main task is obviously to create obstacles and reinforce the colonial concept that there is a ruler and there are the commoners who are ruled.

After interacting with several senior officials and having numerous cups of tea, coffee and snacks, we moved on to meet Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. The septuagenarian leader who leads an alliance Government headed by the Congress is forthright. “People here are simple and so is governance. There is transparency and people are used to it,” he says, pointing to a CCTV camera in his office.

The CCTV camera in Chandy’s office telecasts whatever is happening in his office to anyone who logs on to the website of the Chief Minister’s office anywhere in the world. “Sometime back, a person was sitting on my chair in my absence. A person from Kerala, working in Dubai saw the live webcast and informed my office. He was sitting there only for fun,” the Chief Minister said, pointing to the transparency and the only CM office of the country where a live camera isn installed.

Even as we were talking to Chandy, several officials trooped in to have a meeting with the Chief Minister. Then, people with grievances and even MLAs walked in. It was like an open Durbar where anyone could walk in and talk to the Chief Minister. If someone needed to talk in privacy and not in front of everyone, Chandy merely stood up, went in a corner and listened to the person concerned before instructing officials to address the issue brought to his notice.

Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson shares, “we do not need to take appointments with the Chief Minister. We just see through the door glass whether he is available or not and walk in”. Thomson, who was on central deputation in New Delhi for 8 years before taking over as the Chief Secretary, said for the IAS officials working in northern States is an entirely different experience. “Here every move is scrutinised, the media is very active to the extent of being intrusive, there is no scope for any discretion as transparency and accountability is all pervasive,” he shares. His Executive Assistant Dr K Vasuki, a young IAS officer, also the Executive Director, Suchitwa Mission, says the work culture in Kerala is entirely different from other States and it was not only a challenge here but also professionally very satisfying. She was earlier in the Madhya Pradesh cadre and was posted in 3 districts as Sub Divisional officer there before shifting to Kerala after a change in cadre due to marriage.

Rural Development Minister K. C Joseph, who also has the charge of Planning, Cultural Affairs and Information and Public Relations, says that ever since he has seen it, extravagance of any nature is shunned and people do not like it. Surrounded by officers of his department, people troop in with their applications and it gets disposed then and there unless there is a scrutiny to be done.

Perhaps a trip of officials and Ministers of northern States to God’s own country is needed to assimilate the approach to governance for greater transparency, accountability and also people interface. (December 16, 2015)

(Amitabh Shukla, Senior Editor, was in Kerala at the invitation of the Press Information Bureau)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/simplicity-in-governance-is-the-usp-of-kerala.html