What Do We Want:

November 01/2011: When every developing nation, including India, is concentrating on building new and bettering existing infrastructure, Orissa seems to be going on a separate track. The State had, for a long time, been neglected and had been in the back burner and people from other provinces always considered Oriyas as being under privileged, under nourished and as a consequence under developed too. The geography of the State was mostly unknown to school going children in other parts of the country. However, especially in the past decade, Orissa has been recognized as being somewhere in the India map. This is primarily due to the rush for natural resources of which plenty is available in the State. It could easily be said that the fame gained by Orissa is absolutely due to the circumstances which made people aware that real unabashed wealth lay under the ground in this place. All that one had to do was to bribe government officials at the top and lower rungs and get a patch of land from where the mud also meant money.

All that is fine as long as it did not destroy the people and their life style. Sadly, that is exactly what has been happening. Look at Bhubaneswar for instance. One of the few capital towns in this country to have been capable of laying claim to some amazing green cover and broad roads, the place is in complete disarray today. What the devastating cyclone could not achieve in 1999, our Public Works department engineers managed to do so in a very short time. Thousands of massive old trees were butchered in a matter of maximum 15 days. Roads were promptly dug up. More than 15 months have passed by. The roads have not been worked upon. Look at the main thoroughfares such as Janpath, Rajpath, Raj Mahal and Rasulgarh squares as examples. If the argument was to accommodate growing traffic, a reality check is required. In Bhubaneswar, 4 wheels traffic has not increased much. The economic situation may have shown an upward trend but in matters of road congestion, it’s the 2 wheeler population that has boomed. What was needed was proper recruitment and training of a few more traffic policemen. Existing infrastructure could have been saved and the traffic would have seen better management instantaneously. Alas, that is not how our pro contractor system sees problems. It is a known fact that the town cannot boast of a sewerage and rain water drainage system worth the name. However, on the way to the airport, the road goes over a small bridge that spans a natural land contour that has always acted as a rain drainage system. Our clever corrupt masterminds have decided to allow major hotel and office complex construction on this very land. It was intolerable for them to see that land being used for agriculture which in turn would have maintained the natural land usage purpose. No. That is not to be. We need the kickbacks here and now. Give everything away as long as it benefits our personal coffers.

This rape of infrastructure is not limited to urban Orissa alone. A good example is the manner the National Highway 42, running between Manguli Chhak and Sambalpur, has been damaged near Nimabahali of Dhenkanal district. Although NHs are not supposed to have any railway level crossings, here at this spot mentioned, a private company has dug up the road and laid a twin rail connexion to its factory. Look at the Cuttack Paradip line near Samrat movie theatre of Cuttack. The rail link goes on an over bridge built over the NH. A similar over bridge could have been built on NH 42 also. Yet, that has not been done. Certainly some Engineer of definitely great repute must have permitted this pillaging. The story does not end there. The long awaited and incomplete, corruption ridden Rengali Right Canal passing near this road rape has been virtually filled up and damaged. No one cares.

This State enjoys a reputation of not being able to spend major chunks of Central funds. Rural development aid mostly returns as the government machinery is incapable of using it for development of infrastructure. A major thrust area is the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). Meant to be implemented phase wise connecting Block headquarters to villages with large populations and then gradually coming down to smaller hamlets, this project is an important infra creating investment. Although Orissa is not up on the list of States marked as major achievers in this sector, our government has already started the negative movement. Permission is being granted left right and center to cut or break PMGSY roads to private industries and anyone else interested to do anything else. Many Engineers known for their aptitude to build roads leading to nowhere in particular are now over eager to obtain permission from their higher ups for people to destroy the roads that lead to human habitation, without a whimper of protest. Under the pretext of taking water pipelines for industry, many such PMGSY roads are slated to be destroyed by industrial houses all over the State. This is in spite of the fact that technology exists in India whereby whole Metro rail lines, stations and that complete system is underground while above exist roads, trees, buildings and everything else as before. Calcutta, Delhi and now Bangalore are witnesses, so also most major cities across the globe. In Orissa however, we do not believe in protecting what we have.

Water resources and energy infrastructure are also facing a painful existence in this State. While most industries are blazing and flashing lights driven by power from the general grid, villages adjacent to their boundary walls do not have access to power to help students study in the evenings or a man to walk safe from a snake bite with the help of street lighting. Water reservoirs are kept full while downstream agricultural lands face drought like situations. Keeping a district level Executive Engineer satisfied is good enough for interested parties to corner a whole reservoir full of water for personal use. This is happening everywhere all the time. The system is highly non cooperative and unwilling to react to the needs of the people. Destruction of existing infrastructure must be banned forthwith. Similarly, no one should have the authority to authorize cutting a road created recently or holding back water in a reservoir and thus depriving farming of its rightful share. A logical outlook could solve the problems. However, the government does not seem to accept this possibility. It is rather busy inviting more trouble by saying 2000 acres of land is readily available so Posco should come and start work. ‘Sails Ahead’ for a quick buck. Surely, and why not. 

Only remedy to such a situation seems to be increased public awareness and maybe even sporadic protests. If we do not realize what we want and what we need, we will very soon be blown out of shape.