EDITORIAL
Thought on the eve of Lok Sabha poll
— Dr Akhil Ranjan Dutta
Guwahati- the capital city of Assam and also the gate way to North-East India is fast becoming a place not to be lived in. There are significant indicators in this regard that we very often ignore. That there has been no rain for more than three months in the recent past is one of those indicators. There was dust around making movement risky. This is, however, visible to all. There are other indicators which are more dangerous. One among those is the challenges confronted by the infants and the children. You go to any child specialist you find a long queue with the disease prone babies in parents laps. You enquire about their problems. Most of them are suffering from problems related to respiratory functioning. Nabulization i.e. clearing the congestion artificially has been becoming a regular phenomenon. It is due to high dust, dirty and unchecked pollution. Around ten-fifteen years ago it was almost impossible to pass through Chandni Chowk and Daryaganj in Delhi that touches the Red Fort, Jumma Masjid and the Old Delhi Railway Station. Your eyes gets tired and you suffer from un-comfort in breathing. It was due to high pollution. This area used to be infamous for the huge traffic jams and also industrial pollution. Now, the things have changed radically. You can pass through comfortably without those problems. This change must have come due to many initiatives by the Delhi government. But, one important factor has been the introduction of metro services. Metro has not merely made the travel in Delhi comfortable. It has drastically reduced the polluting traffic. And finally it has saved Delhi. Delhi is full of trees today with huge campaign and initiative for plantation and so rain is not something that you need to worship for. It visits Delhi more frequently these days compared to the past. The citizens’ alertness has contributed a lot towards the positive transition in Delhi. For example, the felling of trees in Delhi near the constructing sites for the upcoming Commonwealth Games was challenged in the Supreme Court and the Court had warned for utmost care so that trees are not touched if it is not extremely unavoidable.
Guwahati cannot be compared with Delhi. But, Guwahati needs to look at Delhi if it really wants to remain a place to be inhabited. The first challenge for Guwahati is to reduce personal vehicles. The level of pollution created by the vehicles will be much higher compared to the pollution caused by anything else. It is not merely pollution. It delays everything in, life. It takes hours together to pass through Guwahati Club, Fancy Bazar, Panbazar, Jalukabari and many other places. Passing over the Saraighat Bridge takes hours together. But, personal vehicles will not go down until and unless public transportation is introduced. Mere public transportation will not help unless and until it is really comfortable. Nobody will be moving by the today’s city services unless forced by poverty and other distresses. Even the private car companies who have established their outlets in the city will not allow the government to go in for such a drastic measure. The consumerist culture developed through the market forces under which the personal belonging is a symbol of power and status will also be a big hurdle. But, we need to look for the future. So, it will need multi-pronged strategies. First of all, all public offices ‘should introduce bus, services from all possible corners. School and college buses must be made compulsory. This should be applicable for all categories of people. If necessary, the security arrangement should also be made in those services. The residents of IIT, Guwahati love to travel by the bus services provided to them. Once upon a time, the Gauhati University community loved to use the bus services provided to them. But, given the length and breath of the city, bus services will also not solve the problem permanently. The government needs to think in long term basis. Introduction of metro covering the city and its outskirts must be a part of the long term plan.
The frequent traffic blockade to facilitate the movement of VIPs has been creating other sorts of challenges to the commuters. Now, you have all sorts of VIPs- from Council members to the Ministers and also military and administrative bosses. One person is escorted by dozens of vehicles in the name of their safety and security. Jalukabari .and the Gauhati University campus is an eye witness to the terror created by the VIP movement. The Chief Minister of Assam very often talks about professionalism. But, his huge convoy is just a contradiction. His ‘safe and secure’ Assam proves to be the biggest lie with his huge convoy that encircles him in his movement every time. These convoys-are also equally polluting. The self-proclaimed professionalism of the politicians should be implemented in their own acts and deeds. The city has to have now a well-structured ground in the outskirt for all public meetings, whether it is meeting of the government or of movement groups. Use of Pragjyoti Cultural Complex for political purposes should also be banned.
Water scarcity and water logging are the two other fundamental challenges for Guwahati now. As winter starts people feel insecure about water, forget about safe water. There has been growing water marketing and also water piracy in Guwahati city. Water may emerge as an issue for riots in Guwahati. At individual and community level it is already happening. This is again the outcome of the miserable failure of the government. The ground water level in Guwahati has been depleting fast. It is due to so many factors. One among them is the deep tube wells used both legally and illegally by the corporate houses including the Nursing Homes and the Apartments. Japanese Bank of International Corporation (JBIC) has now entered to rescue the Guwahatians from this crisis.
Migration to Guwahati will cause more danger. I am not talking about crimes alone. In China the new reforms had created crisis in the countryside in different ways. One importan problem among them was the growing unemployment. Resultantly there had been huge inflow to the urban areas. It made the urban areas too insecure. Finally China is now moving towards re-building the country side as an effort towards checking migration. Guwahati has been a destination for all kinds of migrants on different counts. One is definitely the state of despair arising out of unemployment. The agriculture sector is becoming unproductive and also unsustainable. The vegetable growers and also small tea gardeners have been incurring losses due to the lack of ‘protection and promotion’ of the produced items. For example, the tomatoes in Goalpara and other places are just thrown into dustbins when the price of tomatoes fails to afford the carrying charges. For, heath care alone around 20 lacs people come to the city every year. The NRHM and NREGA have failed to check these trends. There have been reports that in Guwahati City today there are chains of pick pocketing that involves groups of educated youth- both boys and girls. Delhi has already become the land of murders. Everyday terrible cases of murders are reported in the national capital. The security arrangement fails at every point. Guwahati may also become the victim of such menaces. The growing economic inequality, social injustice, consumerist tendencies, exposure to the anarchy of different kinds through electronic networks are the important factors behind such menaces. A community and government with long term vision should take these issues seriously.
There are many agencies to look after Guwahati’s development. There is no dearth of money and resources. Indeed there is not even shortage of technical persons. What is not there is the vision. The energetic Guwahati Development Minister often talks about radical packages to make the city clean and habitable. He has already initiated a few schemes in this regard. But, it does not appear to have a vision. Techniques and technicians are the means towards building something. They are - not the end. Many a time we confuse between the two. And it is the citizens who need to constantly focus on these dimensions of the ‘sinking’ city.
(The writer is Reader in Peace and Conflict Studies, Department of Political Science, Gauhati University)