Like every lad coming
from lower-middle-class upbringing I too had a fascination to drive and own a car
one day. Like every first thing in life, I too was in love with my first bought
one, nearly 30 years ago and for me, the Mumbai roads then, did not have any bounds.
30 years down the lane and after owning 9 cars at different phases of my life,
now I have come to a state where I detest Mumbai driving, thanks to many
factors.
Like me, there were
umpteen upwardly mobile youngsters, millennial, who too could do the same and
it made Mumbai traffic, a moving traffic jam! Thanks to our technology which
can send a rocket to the moon but cannot provide good drivable roads, two consecutive
monsoons, a stretch of drive which normally should take 10 minutes, has now started
taking more than an hour. And there came in the picture, the fast and rapid mode
of transport. Metro! Being a Ghatkopar resident, and having to deal with Andheri
many times, Metro Line 1 was/is actually a blessing. To cross Saki Naka about a
few years ago was a nightmare, now you just hop in Metro and in a jiffy you are
in Lokhandwala. I was hoping to have the same dream-like journeys all over Mumbai
and thank God after waiting for aeons, the government planned many more Metro lines
cress-crossing across Mumbai. And the work actually started!
But to every good
thing, there’s always a black cloud hovering over the horizon. Here it was/is The
Environmentalists!
A notorious species
who always takes pleasure in halting every ongoing good thing. Tell me a
project which they have not thrown a spanner in!
With the burgeoning
population, the demand for electricity is bound to increase. Cite me any electricity-generating project which has been thrown open to the public in the last decade for
the increasing demand. Electricity is not like money that can be stored, so to
ask the people to conserve the electricity is bull shit. If the demand
increases have more power stations, it’s that simple. But aha, there is the
hitch. You think of ‘Hydroelectric power’, the species, THE SPECIES, calls
hoarse, because the collection of large bodies of waters alters the ecology and is
against nature. Give the alternative of Nuclear power. Oho, their eyebrows
reach the sky. Absolute, No, No. “Chernobyl’! But conveniently forgetting that the
Chernobyl is only one incidence amongst hundreds of other nuclear reactors
which are giving cheap electricity to umpteen numbers of industries,
households, commercial establishments all over the worlds over the years since
its inception. Talk about Thermal Power? Most air polluting device, consuming
coals and emitting CO2! And ask to use less electricity? “Why? Its’ government’s
responsibility to provide us with Cheap electricity, no private sector here because ‘They
loot us!’ In short, I want electricity, but power station of any kind “Not in my
back yard!”
And this is not
restricted to power stations alone. Take any industry that will help the nation,
in the end, the man on the street, any highway that will bring two cities at
stone’s throw distance, Bullet trains, airports, any damn project that in
the long run will be a boost to the nation and its progress[ Remember Mumbai Pune
Expressway Highway, same people same objections, but now won’t hesitate to use
it because it’s so convenient], there are always these nay Sayers, who not only
delay the project but allow to escalate the cost, which you, me and every taxpayer has to cough out in the end! 'Medha Patkar' fought for Sardar Sarovar, for
few uprooted families,[ I must agree here that their rehabilitation is must!]
forgetting the very fact that in a democracy it’s a larger number that counts,
ultimately pushing the expenses skywards without achieving anything concrete, really!
The crux of the problem they cite is ‘Progress at what cost?’ To a certain extent, I agree with
them, but if you want to go into the depth of the situation, the real development
[and thus the destruction of the environment, in their parlance] started when THE man
recreated the fire, invented the wheel and started building houses! All the homes,
houses, buildings, skyscrapers standing on any land today, was once a jungle, a marshy
land or the mountains! So where to have a cutting line? Due to a variety of reasons
Nobody, Nobody can stop urbanization. So the Exodus from the interiors to the
cities is going to continue. Now can anyone from the SPECIES stand up and give a real, real good alternative that will provide decent house to every migrant and
make everybody happy? If slums are there, they crib about the subhuman existence
of the fellow human beings. If the land is made available, they shout against the nexus
between the builders and the Government. Ignoring conveniently the very fact that,
to provide good houses, ‘Somebody has to be a builder!’ The onus goes to some
extent to our Nehruvian Socialistic upbringing. WE want everything ‘Mostly
free, not even at the reasonable cost!’
If really that’s the problem my answer would be ‘Stop Procreating!’ And if you can’t do that, the increasing
population is going to require more and more amenities and solid working
infrastructure. ‘A CITY means infrastructure!’ The ones lacking, are just
villages. The one given to us by Britons, is already in doldrums and is not
going to last us long, may collapse in very near future if the load on it is
not decreased,[cracks are already showing], and the decay of the cities,
especially overpopulated cities like Mumbai is going to continue.
Forget about the Pure
air 100 years down the line, do something about the hell in which we are living
NOW! That encompasses not only Aarey but the bad roads and worse living
conditions. I will ask you to hold the responsible ones by their collar rather
than hamper a step that will take Mumbai to a better place to commute!
