Bhopal Notes :: 61 Ridge Road and its ditches

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One of the decrepit Bhopal roads

I happen to live on the Ridge Road located on that part of the Idgah Hills which overlooks the famed but now-decaying Upper Lake of Bhopal. While the view from the windows is exquisite the approach to the complexes like ours or the newly-built billion rupees bungalows is horrid. In my 22 years of living in this flat I have hardly ever seen the road in good repair. Whenever patchy repairs were carried out they never survived a bout of rain. And for years it has remained in its decrepit and crumbling state with the residents remaining in the hope that at the time of elections of councillors perhaps the road would be attended to. For at least ten years now this has not happened.

After the last elections the newly elected Mayor happened to visit the road and promised to make such a good road of it that people would be able to use it as a dining plate and dine right off it. More than three years have since gone by but t residents are yet to see the surface of a dinner plate; in fact we have only seen the road progressively deteriorating with far greater numbers of ditches than seen any time before. The councilors are indifferent as indeed the Mayor. So far no signs are visible of any repair work of the road. It is understood that a few times contracts for the work were awarded but the contractors ditched it and disappeared without carrying out the work. Perhaps, their tenders were so low that the contractors later realized that they would be left with any margin on construction of this hilly road after paying the cuts of the officers and councilors.

I, for one, am unable to use this only approach to my flat unless I am in a vehicle. Long time ago, at least now it seems so, I used to take my constitutionals on this road. But then I was younger and my bones were perhaps stronger. Now a few steps here and the joints creak and at every step there is the fear of a sprain in the ankle, jagged stones-strewn as the road is.

Thus a very important source of my wellbeing has been taken away from me by the negligence apathy of the government-sustained municipal corporation and its councilors and the Mayor. Thay are responsible for keeping me unhealthy and, hence, unhappy. The government, however, is touting its Happiness Department that is having a ball with tours abroad. They are reported to be looking for ways and means for extending happiness to the citizens of the city. Why doesn’t it occur to them that people will derive happiness if only the functionaries of the municipal corporation – elected and unelected – did their work sincerely, effectively and honestly? The chief minister has been shouting from the roof tops about “su-sashan” (good governance) in order to make people happy. Surprisingly it does not appear to have occurred to him that rendering effective public services to people is an important component of “su-sashan”.

It looks like that the time has now come that people need not depend on the government or its agencies for receiving essential services. They may have to take the bull by the horn and fill the staring gaps left by the local administration in the matter of road building by themselves. Newspapers have already reported instances where people have started building their colony roads by eliciting contributions from the residents. Clearly, this municipal body and the government cannot be depended upon for such services. The residents of Ridge Road may also have to do likewise and cut the municipal corporation from their lives at least in this respect.

*Photo from internet

Mayor to build temple even as colony roads remain decrepit

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Alok Sharma

Shri Alok Sharma, Mayor of Bhopal, announced the other day that he would build a 20-crore temple of Dharti Mata (Mother Earth) on top of the Manuabhan hill. How suddenly the need for a temple of Dharti Mata arose is not quite clear. That there is already a temple on top of the hill is, of course, not quite a matter for consideration for him.

What one would like to point out to the Mayor is that worshipping the Mother Earth is not what she surely wants. What she wants is a little sensitive care for her. Mother Earth holds within her lap Nature which, in its narrow sense, is our physical world with all its essential elements that we use and have mostly fouled up by our profligate, uncaring use of them. She needs no worshipping accompanied by the whole ritualistic rigmarole of burning oil lamps with incense and loud recitation of mantras and tolling of bells but a little sympathetic nurturing. It  has within its all-embracing confines the air that we breathe, water that is elixir for our life,  the “good” earth” that provides habitat for not only humans but also for myriad other organisms. All those we have degraded; water and air have been polluted and the land – the very land on which we live and thrive – has been ravaged and largely despoiled. Now, therefore, worship is not what is required; what “dharti mata” needs is consideration for Her wellbeing and, strangely but truly, through only Her well being will we find our own wellbeing.

That, however, is another matter. Now that the Mayor has decided to please “Ddharti Mata” and has assured her of a temple dedicated to Her it seems to be right time for him to be reminded of the assurances that he had held out more than a year back for mere mortals like us. I remember in February 2015 he had visited our Ridge Road on the Idgah Hills and having seen its miserable condition he had promised to provide a shiny new surface, clean enough to be used like a brass or steel platter for dining. Similar promises he had doubtlessly made elsewhere too. A whole year has gone by but there is no sign of any move to build the roads. The year that has gone by has witnessed further deterioration of the Ridge Road and passing over its potholes and ditches even sitting in a car have become painful. The same would be true of numerous other residential areas in the town.

The Mayor has spent quite a bit of energy towards building a Smart City in Bhopal including “pan-city” (smart) upgrade. He seems to forget that while smart solutions for solving problems of citizens with the help of Information and Communication Technology is feasible but there are no smart solutions for problems of commuting for commuters other than building a nice, decent and even surfaced road. For numerous localities in Bhopal, including Ridge Road, roads in real sense are virtually non-existent. What they have are broken down, badly maintained roads more like the ones of pre-Industrial Revolution vintage.

Instead of honouring the assurance given to “Dharti Mata” the Mayor will do well to honour the assurances given to the people of the town. That will be more in fulfillment of the mandate that he has been given on his victory at the mayoral elections last year

Bhopal and its broken-down roads

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The plunging civic services of Bhopal touched a new low when the famed decades old All India Obaidullah Gold Cup Hockey Tournament had to be postponed for a reason that was as bizarre as it was unbelievable. The Bhopal Hockey Association had to shelve the Tournament for the time being on account of bad roads around the venue, the Nawabi era Aishbagh Stadium. All the approaches to the Stadium are heavily potholed and muddy though for the past few days there have been no rains. The Association felt that the players from all over the country would take away a negative impression of the city.

At least the Bhopal Hockey Association is sensitive about the city’s image. The three agencies of the city which look after its roads, however, have no such sensitivity. All the three agencies – the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, the PWD and the Capital Project Authority –, have the responsibility to construct and repair roads in various parts of the city. And, curiously all the three agencies have miserably failed to do so. That the civil engineers are mostly corrupt is known to everyone. However, the fact that the entire tribe of these engineers in the three agencies is so highly corrupt is something difficult to stomach. Shamelessly, these engineers and even their minister in-charge, after a survey, found nothing wrong with the roads. They missed all the gaping potholes, trenches and water logging. They were trying to defend the indefensible. Only an independent survey nailed their lies. Obviously, there is no monitoring to ensure compliance with the prescribed procedures. Year after year we face this rather dismal phenomenon. Neither the senior bureaucrats nor the minister in-charge are bothered. It is popularly known that money made by short-changing the government finds its way right up to the top. Hence, no senior public officials are concerned as they too share the loot. And some of these ministers used to pompously claim five or six years ago that they would convert the city into a Singapore. Shameless as they are, they don’t even eat up their words.

The unscrupulous engineers have not even spared the BRTS corridor parts of which are now in shambles even after a deficient monsoon. Reportedly, moneys were allocated by the Centre for roads of high quality and international standards.  Even here there seems to have been swindling. The most incapable organisation, the municipal corporation, was given the responsibility to build the corridor and it made a mess of it. About 5 or 6 years ago the Bhopal Citizens’ Forum had suggested to the then chief secretary to constitute an empowered authority to oversee the construction of BRTS roads mainly to prevent slippage of quality, time and money. Nothing was done and the whole thing continued in the same lackadaisical way so much so that, seven years on after the commencement of the project, it is nowhere near completion causing untold miseries to the commuters.

It is not only the urban roads that are in a mess, even the rural roads and highways are no better. The state may have achieved 11% growth in agriculture but it will never be able to register all round development without proper roads. One recalls what Mao Tse Tung had said: “if you want to prosper, build roads.” That’s precisely what we have not done and, unsurprisingly, we are lagging behind and may well continue to do so for some more years – even regardless of Modi.

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Photo: from the Internet

Bhopal roads inflict ordeal on citizens

What was once only feared has now come true. The dug up roads are causing not only inconvenience, they have also been instrumental in increasing sickness among the citizens. The Hindustan Times recently came out with an “unsettling” report based on the opinion of medical experts which suggested a rise in respiratory problems due to dust floating around in the city. Citing as evidence the contentions of some medical professionals, it was reported that nasal and respiratory allergies among the people are on the rise. Citizens of various localities have reported that constant inhalation of dust has led to sore throat and frequent sneezing. Among the factors that have contributed to rise are mainly the dust kicked up by the vehicles from the roads that have been dug up and ceaseless construction in the town.

The newspaper has also reported that the problem has been compounded by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) which chopped down thousands of trees, many of them massive and decades old, in the on-going process of creating a BRTS corridor. Trees not only bind the loose earth, they also absorb a lot of dust, noise and atmospheric pollution. Among other benefits “Streetswiki” says “Street trees are a key feature of a liveable neighbourhood. Urban trees have significant and multiple benefits, from energy and water conservation to reduced road maintenance costs. A major transportation benefit is the favourable impact of mature trees on the pedestrian environment, particularly in urban areas. New evidence suggests roadside trees also increase traffic safety. While selecting, planting, and maintaining street trees present challenges, the benefits of trees far outweigh their costs. Cities can maximize these benefits through aggressive tree planting and maintenance programs.”

The Corporation has not made any efforts to substitute the felled trees by new plantations along the new corridor. A few months back when the Commissioner BMC accompanied the Principal Secretary Urban Administration & Development to a meeting of the Bhopal Citizens’ Forum he was asked about his plans of compensatory plantation along the upcoming corridor. He replied that a few thousand trees had been planted on a hill beyond Shahpura miles away from the town. There was no plan to plant trees along the roads. Obviously, like many other officials, he is not aware of the benefits of roadside trees. This is what has been the bane of India. A glaring example of the differences in our attitudes and those of the British is Delhi. While Lutyen’s Delhi has surfeit of roadside trees of native varieties, at places in double rows, the later additions to the expanding city like the settlements along the Ring Road are bereft of trees. The Ring Road and the Outer Ring Road have hardly any roadside trees.

The dug-up roads are another kind of scourge on those who ply the streets. The other day an auto-driver told me how not only his auto-rickshaw has repeated breakdowns because of the uneven, potholes and ditches-infested roads, his consumption of fuel has also gone up because he can never maintain an even pace. On top of that there have been repeated fuel price hikes. All these, plus the expensive medical attention needed because of exposure to acute pollution, have been cutting into his income. This applies to all those who have to commute in the city. BMC has been instrumental in whittling down the disposable incomes of the locals because of its lethargy and incompetence.

None knows when the ordeal of the people will come to end. Jaipur also created a corridor but it completed it within two and a half years flat. The Rajasthan government had established a special purpose vehicle to carry out the work. The Bhopal Citizens’ Forum had requested the chief secretary to create an empowered task force comprising technical and financial experts for enabling quick decisions in carrying out the works of JNNURM to prevent cost and time overruns but he, apparently, did not think it fit to pay heed to the Forum’s counsel. As on date, not one stretch of BRTS corridor is fully done and the commuters necessarily have to negotiate several lengths which are bouncy and dusty and at places barricaded. Looks like, the corridor will be commissioned when there will be no need for it as, given the frequent hikes in petrol prices, number of vehicles plying on the roads may drastically get reduced. Already, the recent hike seems to have had a tell tale effect

The main arteries perhaps will be taken care of even if it takes months and years to do so. What perhaps will take decades are the roads that have been dug up inside various localities for one reason or the other. Once dug, they stay dug and are never mended although the contracts provide putting them back in original condition. The contractors, engineering and other officials almost always swallow the money. The citizens of Bhopal have a long wait in front of them for a cleaner air and roads that are devoid of dust, scattered pieces of stones, potholes, ditches and overflowing sewers.

A pretty sorry plight!

Bhopal Municipal Corporation needs supercession

All these years the state’s BJP government has been selling dreams to the citizens of Bhopal. They had been claiming that they would convert Bhopal into a Paris or Singapore. Every time a minister went abroad he would on return tell the people that with the natural endowment of the Bhopal they would make it better than many of the popular foreign tourist destinations. Most vocal in the respect was the current minister of Urban Administration and Development, Babu Lal Gaur. The people now know that all those were empty rhetoric as during the BJP’s rule this beautiful city or what could have been a beautiful city has hit the rock bottom.

The BJP has failed to ameliorate the plight of the people in almost all the three issues, viz. bijli, sadak and paani, on which it rode to power. The citizens of Bhopal are not only being deprived of daily water supplies and being subjected regular power cuts, they are also suffering the daily miseries because of broken down roads with ditches of various depths and dimensions filled with filthy water causing acute insanitation and lack of hygiene exposing them to the risks of accidents as also ill-health.

While BJP is protesting at the Centre about the run-down highways and the local Congress has launched a campaign against the terrible condition of the city roads there doesn’t seem to be anybody who is protesting about the shoddy condition of the roads inside the residential colonies. It is only Hitawada that has been publishing day after day write-ups along with photographs of the deplorable condition of the roads inside the colonies where the unfortunate citizens of this town live out their life.

For years the colony roads have not been constructed; at best they have been subjected to patch-work, expecting people to put up with what are apologies for the same. They have been left to the councillors to take care of who hardly ever have had a proper job done. The allotments to them are inadequate and on top of that they and the contractors siphon off their own substantial shares from the available meagre sums.

Idgah, which suffers the same plight as the areas covered by Hitavada but unfortunately has not been covered by it so far, is also another example of lack of attention to its roads. The two roads that lead to Idgah – one from Bhopal Gate and the other from the All Saint’s School – are full of ditches of various shapes and sizes travelling over which is fraught with peril for the lives of vehicles and those who ride them. They are of deceptive depths and, when filled with rain water, are dangerous. Before Eid they were covered up with rubble consisting, inter alia, of jagged stones that are real threats to tyres of vehicles, including those of the humble bicycle. Now the Municipal Council has decided to give the same treatment to all the potholes in the city, thus extending the risk and danger to all those who have to commute over them. The Ridge Road was repaired not too long ago by the councillor concerned. Only a small patch was concretised but that too now is in terrible condition. It got worn out within two years, so indifferent was its quality. The rest of the road has numerous potholes and deep gashes made by flowing water.

Even the roads that used to be reasonably good were dug up for various civic works but were never put back into original shape although the projects provided money for the same and, in all probability, the contractors were paid in full. The road to Shajehanabad and the one along the Babe Ali Stadium are testimonies to it. The Corporation has been merrily going on digging expeditions on money borrowed from Asian Development Bank and all the roads were ruined. The Asian Development Bank seems to have been a bane for Bhopal. It is only fattening up the municipal officials and all those who approve the projects and the loans and is inflicting only miseries on the citizens.

While an urban renewal mission is being implemented in the town its residential areas have been progressively regressing. What with flooding of roads with rain, fresh or sewer water and accumulation of garbage things have become so scandalous that the quality of life of residents is being adversely impacted. It now seems impossible for the municipality to improve matters, given its lackadaisical ways, defective organisational structure and ineffective ways of functioning. Neither the mayor nor the top bureaucrat and his minions have shown the required mettle. As regards the councillors less said the better. Any amount money spent now to improve matters will not help as the municipality seems to need systemic improvements to enable it to function properly for the benefit of the citizens.

If the degraded condition of the residential areas of the city is to be improved and the life of the citizens ameliorated the Municipal Corporation needs to be urgently superceded and an effective administrator appointed for a reasonable length of time so that the dysfunctional Corporation is put back on rails. There are instances where such urban renewals have taken place under effective leadership of competent administrators. The cities of Nagpur and Surat readily come to mind.

Immediate action would seem to be necessary as any delay in doing so would further degrade the conditions in the colonies of the city which, regretfully, also happens to be the state capital. Unless a people’s campaign is launched nothing worthwhile may happen.