The results of the recently held Assembly elections in five States have elicited the usual range of reactions from surprise to “I told you so” and from jubilation to disappointment. However, for the astute politicians that there are, the results might not have come so much as a surprise as disappointment or excitement at the less or more than expected seats won. One says lack of surprise because actively working on a political or any other project while also keeping an eye on the rivals and problems, one can be surprised by the results only if one is detached from the ground reality.
That is a trait hard to imagine in seasoned politicians at least when it comes to politics. It is similar to the experience one had during school days when annual exams brought tension and anxiety though in general the results were rarely surprising since one knew how much one had prepared and how one had done in the examinations.
Similar scenarios are common at the individual and societal levels though it appears as if we have stopped using common sense and logic to anticipate the obvious repercussions of our attitudes and actions. Nowhere is this more visible than in our lives and in the places where we live. One has been seeing this happen in Dehradun and elsewhere in the state for years now.
About 14 years ago, when I came to reside in the rustic suburban area of Badripur, it was a refreshing place to live in. Ours was the first house to be constructed in an outer part of the locality as most were wary of buying land or constructing homes due to talk of the local development authority planning to acquire lands for implementation of its projects. During those days, the area was all about open spaces, clumps of trees and farms, clean air and peace with not a speck of garbage seen in the open.
One could hear the mellow sound of the water flowing in the roadside canal, the wind in the trees and birds chirping. During the sedate nights, a large number of fireflies twinkled above the canal and around trees while there were a few rounds of jackals howling and dogs responding as civets and nocturnal birds among other creatures went about their routine tasks after sunset.
The quality of the main road was very bad but that kept the traffic thin and vehicles passed at a safe speed. The days were peaceful and the only occasional source of noise during the night was the village drunkard who used to take shelter in the courtyard of a temple while shouting at his own demons. However, he was easy to silence-simply shining a torch on his face from afar made him discontinue his loud ramblings.
Sadly, as in other parts of Dehradun, this locality has changed for the worse. Many people have spent a lot of money building homes with tiny or non-existent gardens with some of them also leaving the outlets of domestic drains on open public space.
Most home owners have encroached on the side of the main road, the canal is now covered, the fireflies much fewer and jackals have moved away. And with the quality of the road improving, the traffic is more and riskier for both vehicle users and pedestrians. The locality is now noisier with garbage littering most areas.
Whereas there was only one noisy village drunkard in the past, now there are scores who frequent the party plots –that have mushroomed in recent years- for marriage and other functions bringing traffic congestion, noise and other pollution with them before leaving the locality littered with empty cartons, disposables and other trash. The open space, trees and farms have been dwindling consistently. One fears that the situation will only worsen as such suburban areas are now within municipal limits and are likely to be bombarded with ‘developmental’ works.
Such is the scenario in most of Dehradun where rising population pressure and the inability of successive Governments to take sensible measures continue to ruin the city. This is also due to another major problem which the State faces-migration of people from the mountainous areas to the urban areas in the plains. As expected, the Government has various plans and projects to tackle such problems but some plans make one wonder whether the authorities actually understand the problem and intend to solve it.
Take for example the problem of rising traffic congestion in Dehradun. The human and vehicular load has increased drastically leading to congestion in the town. The authorities came up with fantastic plans like metro rail and automated pods for public transport. Anyone with common sense would say that the first step to redressing traffic congestion in the city is to implement a proper public transport system instead of the disorderly system of privately owned vehicles-city buses and three-wheelers that flout various rules while providing pathetic public transport. However, the powers that be spent large sums on consultations, project reports and tours to various European countries to ‘study’ their modes. It is only now that some seniors are saying that metro train is not a feasible option for Dehradun city.
One could go on about problems in the state and effects of skewed governmental focus due to which the state is snugly lounging on time bombs ticking in various sectors.
But, that would be tedious and boring. The feature common in most problems is the lack of direct and proactive engagement of the authorities with the public to ensure the people do their bit too. The question is whether the establishment cares to do so.