The recent controversy in Singur about the land allocated to Tata Nano project received widespread criticism from all quarters of the society except people belonging to the Trinamool Congress party.
“Clearly Anti-Development” cried one newspaper. “West Bengal is pulling down India’s image as an investment friendly nation.” lamented an editorial. “The dream of millions of middle class people to own a car – squashed and murdered” said a thoughtful journalist.
It was as if the entire nation was up in arms against Trinamool Congress. Tata’s knee jerk reaction of “pulling out from West Bengal” was met with expected gasps from everyone.
As George W. Bush Junior once famously said, “You are with us or with them!”, anyone who is not excited by the very concept of a cheap car like Nano is automatically thought to be a Mamata Banerjee devotee.
I hate Nano. I am not a sympathizer of Trinamool Congress. And I don’t idolize Mamata Banerjee. If you feel this is an impossible situation, I don’t blame you. We have been brainwashed by the media for years that Small Car is Good for Middle Class Indians.
Why am I against Nano? To start with, let us talk about Global Warming. What exactly are we doing to arrest this menace? Sunderbans are going to disappear. The Government itself released a report a couple of days ago predicting a grim future for our coastal economic hubs such as Chennai and Mumbai. The report says that the “refugees” from these two cities will make the in-land cities such as Hyderabad and Bangalore even more congested.
Can the infrastructure of these cities keep pace with the incoming millions?
The answer is an emphatic no. When the ailing infrastructure of these cities (Chennai and Mumbai included) is unable to handle today’s crowd, how can we expect them to ramp up on a war footing basis to accommodate the multifold increase in the number of people?
Alright. Maybe you don’t believe that Global Warming is a reality. (There are people who say it is all hogwash.) Even then, the infrastructure vows of these cities are appalling. At six in the evening a drive from Tolichowki of Hyderabad to Himayat Nagar of Hyderabad takes about an hour. The distance covered is hardly 10 kilometers. Thanks to a booming economy and increased buying power of the metro Indians, traffic on the already choked roads is growing at an alarming rate.
Everyone wants to drive a car. Everyone wants to drive a luxury car. Public transportation is a taboo word – rightly so. The buses are in dilapidated condition. The local train service doesn’t cover even 1% of the office/school going crowd.
Now, imagine what Nano can do to this situation. A car for 1 lakh – a budget that quite a few motorcycle owners can stretch to. This will lead to an uncontrollable increase in the number of vehicles plying on our battered streets. If you think you’ve experienced bad traffic jams, wait till Nano makes its debut.
The Nano Jams…
At a juncture when the focus should actually be on improving the public transportation system, reducing the carbon footprint we leave behind and discouraging gas guzzling four wheelers, we are all awed about Nano – the potential death knell to the environment in this part of the world.
Mamata Banerjee may not have thought about all this. However she did the right thing. Nano should be driven out – not only from West Bengal – but from the entire world.
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4 comments:
Agree as well as disagree to the view points.
Agree -
1. Global warming is a real phenomenon (I understand this) and Nano project is a hindrance to it.
2. Traffic condition - empathize with the folks who are facing it.
Disagree -
1. In the age of high speed cars/bikes - consider a middle class man on a scooter with his wife on the back seat and son standing on the front gives 0 guarantee to 3 lives on Indian road.
2. It's a business (Constitution allows one to flourish in his/her profession). Albeit this flourishing should have a premium, which has to be decided by the government but I doubt they have.
Soln - In my humble view - there is no solution in hind sight.
Only long term solution is to ramp up public transport system big time. And looking at the track record of government *Execution* I doubt it 100%.
By the way in Blr they have rolled out 50 new volvo buses and had a promotional offer of rs1/- ticket any time anywhere for 4 days.
I didn’t like many things abt this piece of writing.
the layout, the topic, the logic and the non-venu style of writing that lacked any pun in it ;)
who are we to deny the pleasures of a middle class person who dreams of owning a car??
That too, when we own cars… and think that any more cars on road will spoil our pleasure.
-- Cine Valley
Hi Platy,
You may not know me or remember me from Sulekha, but I do. Was nice finding you here. I have a post up and linked you. Hope you don't mind. :)
kowthas.wordpress.com
Hi Venuji i'm from pfdb.hmmm i couldn't agree with your views on this topic.
1.Our RATANji isn't running the government to look up the infra,congestion issues.
2.The choice of public/private transport is left for our discretion depending on comfort, availability& affordability.
3.Nano pollutes as much as every other latest model.It meets Euro standards.
and finally
It is not the prerogative of any section to HAVE exclusive RIGHTS.
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