Open Letter to Mr. Kejriwal and Ms. Sunita Narain,
Kudos to you for boldly taking on a seemingly impossible task, you have my support for the two week EVENT. I call it an event because it exempts all the major polluters and inconveniences the TAX PAYING VICTIMS of GOVERNMENT APATHY.
You are going after the least polluting lot and will be penalising them Rs. 2000/-, that too only those who get caught. The real polluters will nonchalantly continue their merry way. In my earlier communication “An ODD way to EVEN out Misgovernance of Decades ….. VICTIMS of Apathy being Inconvenienced” I had said that one needs to first look at the REAL Causes of Pollution, then find solutions.
People at CSE have shown blinkered vision, they too have gone after the Soft Targets. The real reason for pollution is the pathetic CIVIC Infrastructure, Governance, Indiscipline & Migration and not majority of vehicles as claimed. No city can plan for or endlessly accommodate unchecked influx of people ...... but who will call the spade a spade.
Ill Planned ideas, only make the public more Cynical, remember BRT, planners thought that by packing in all the car users into buses on a dedicated track, pollution could be curbed. THAT FAILED because they were addressing the Pollution issue through blinkered vision of vehicles cause pollution. Had they first tried to address the Civic Issues that plague the city, they would have achieved better results and not alienated the Tax Paying Class.
ODDLY, EVEN now little thought has been given to the decades of CIVIC DEGENERATION the city of Delhi has been inflicted. Going after SOFT TARGETS and not VOTE/NOTE BANKS may give electoral dividends, but little by way of QUALITY OF LIFE.
Instead of EVENT MANAGEMENT, why not prepare a three year Civic Road Map, with clear deadlines:-
A. Put the Public Transport Infrastructure in place
B. Stop Fleecing by Auto/ Taxis. In Kolkatta all Taxis have ‘NO REFUSAL’ written and enforced
C. Clear Roads of all encroachments, expedite court cases for road widening
D. Make all Public and Private Buildings/Farms confirm to REALISTIC Parking ECS standards
E. Do not allow purchase of car/bus (private or commercial) without proof of parking space
F. Ban Parking on Roads. Mixed Land Use Policy has virtually made On Road Parking a norm.
G. Improve Road engineering and positioning of Bus Stops
H. Remove bottle necks on roads like potholes, religious places, trees, defunct poles etc.
I. Enforce Lane Discipline and rethink British Era Speed Limits (used for extorting than to regulate)
J. Create subways and pedestrian crossings and enforce discipline
K. Regulate fast and slow moving vehicles, there are no rules for Gramin Seva, Rickshaws etc.
L. Enforce Bharat IV norms on gensets also
M. Introduce First Class Compartments on Metro and more A/C busses for comfort
N. Improve last mile connectivity
O. Only Hatch Back Cars for recognized VVIPs …. Living by example
P. FINALLY …… call centre type shared Pickup and Drop for all Government Officials …… in earlier times there used to be a special bus service to ferry MPs to Parliament. (has CSE collected data of Number of Government Vehicles on Road????)
I strongly believe that without addressing the above issues all efforts to Curb Pollution will come to naught.
It’s easier to Ban, than to Reform or to Enforce rule of Law ….. THE CHOICE IS BETWEEN TAKING TOUGH DECISIONS TO MAKE REAL DIFFERENCE …… OR TO MANAGE AN EVENT ……… AND EARN GREEN NGOs CARBON POINTS ?????
I support any initiative that curbs pollution ……. I will grudgingly abide by what the Government decides ….. in the hope that I am wrong and have raised unnecessary doubts. IF ONLY ?????
Warm Regards,
Rajiv Kakria
