Saturday, 23 September 2023 | Paritosh Kimothi
THE OTHER SIDE
The monsoon is on the wane and hence the favourite season for blaming the weather and the system for our travails is also nearing its end. During the monsoon every year, the citizens blame the government for its evidently poor planning and execution while trying to negotiate through waterlogged roads or when travel is hampered by landslides in the mountains, apart from the loss of property and life. The media too sincerely comes up with almost similar reports every year during the monsoon, since the disasters and problems tend to remain similar in most cases irrespective of the projects executed and money spent. Since the start of the Dehradun Smart City project some years ago, the media and citizens especially on social media have an additional element to make ‘witty’ remarks about the woes of a “smart city”. Indeed there is much the authorities can improve upon but is that the only reason for the problems being faced in Uttarakhand?
There is a railway crossing on the road to a colony in Dehradun where two ex-chief ministers live and another top politician is said to be constructing his home apart from the other educated and well off citizens residing there. Every time the barrier is closed vehicle users rush to occupy the wrong side of the road despite knowing that this will cause congestion when the barrier is opened. They may even know that they face inconvenience due to their actions while causing the same to others. Most of these people are educated and many of them are comparatively well off too. Many of them have their children with them while teaching them through their actions to ignore civic sense and break even the basic rules. They can conveniently queue on the proper side of the road and smoothly advance when the barrier opens but they do not do so. What is worse is that the police do not bother to penalise such people even though the penalty collected in a couple of days from this crossing alone may compete with the penalty amount collected in the rest of the city. In a democratic society it is the responsibility of the government to correct the citizens when they err but the authorities appear to be selective in doing so.
One is reminded of what Aldous Huxley stated. He wrote in The Art of Seeing, “The greater part of the population is not very intelligent, dreads responsibility and desires nothing better than to be told what to do. Provided the rulers do not interfere with its material comforts and its cherished beliefs, it is perfectly happy to let itself be ruled.”
With all the advancements in recent decades, the public doesn’t always have to be told directly what to do, a hint, social media trends, advertisements and popular fads are enough. What we have then is a society of impractical and shortsighted people building ill-designed homes in unplanned cities, wantonly generating garbage, encroaching on land, damaging the environment and creating dreary and unhealthy conditions for themselves and their children to live in. The children and even adults have little or no space to play sports and the unplanned constructions will ensure a range of civic woes. Such is the situation that the Uttarakhand High Court took cognisance of a letter written by children who complained about having to play on the streets- due to lack of playgrounds- only to be scolded by the neighbourhood uncle or aunty. One hopes the process initiated by the court will result in something good.
However, the 2024 parliamentary election is also approaching. Needless to say, the politicians will step up churning out major developments, allegations and counter allegations. Some of these developments and issues will be important and some will be mere distractions, as usual. We are living in a 75-year-old system superimposed on an ancient civilisation. Both are important and the ills of the sarkari system cannot be drastically changed or improved in a decade despite the efforts put in by the present government. So, the people have to decide whether they will continue going about their lives as usual creating the problems that they blame the government for or change. We have already done a lot of damage but there may still be time to make some corrections. Maybe the monsoon next year will be much better.
