Which part fell, yours or mine?
Clearly, underscoring the real filth is political and administrative. Alas, gone are the days when Shastri concurred that he was duty-bound as head of the Ministry to shoulder responsibility and resigned in 1956 following a train accident.
“What's the use of coming now? They are already dead. All are dead. The administration is hopeless, useless," angrily shouted the residents of Burra Bazaar in Kolkota. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Day after day, month by month anguished wails pierce India’s comatose dark skies. As our netagan continue to glibly parrot trivia and get their knickers in knots. Standing testimony that the aam aadmi translates into a sterile statistic!
True, the dastardly collapse of an under-construction 2km long flyover on street vendors and vehicles, killing at least 26, injuring 75 with 150 still buried under the concrete and steel bridge debris in the West Bengal Capital is heart-wrenching. But more horrifying is the reaction of our leaders.
Asserted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, “Construction began during CPM’s time; I have cancelled my election meetings and come here.” Countered the Left, “Which part of the flyover has collapsed? The portion built during our regime or under Trinamool? Mamata is making an excuse to escape responsibility.” Added the BJP for good measure, “There should be a CBI inquiry it is a clear case of corruption.” While the construction firm dusted it off by heaping blame on God!
Importantly, given our polity’s penchant for short-cuts and quick-fix solutions, what else can one expect, but this ghisa-pitta reaction? Spotlighting once again there cavalier and churlish attitude and approach to a crisis. Not for them the need to elucidate damage control measures, put the disaster in proper perspective and keep calm.
Raising a moot point? Why was the contract given to a company already blacklisted? Was it for a few extra bucks in private pockets? Does Mamata not know that her State government too has a stake in the flyover’s ownership which has been under construction since 2009 and missed several deadlines for completion?
Why did she ignore project engineers’ concerns over hurrying construction to complete it by February so that she could take credit and garner votes in the polls? Does it condone and justify the State government’s delayed action, bad planning, unscientific approach and mismanagement? Why haven’t the CPM and Trinamool Ministers who awarded the flyover contract been arrested? Who will bear the cross for the State Administration laxity?
Undoubtedly, construction projects have long been plagued by dubious ties between politicians and businessmen. Think since 2007 over five flyovers have collapsed killing and maiming hundreds in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Muzaffarpur, Surat and Delhi. All due to the same reasons: Sand instead of cement, low-quality steel etc. But it is no water off our leaders back.
Clearly, underscoring the real filth is political and administrative. Alas, gone are the days when Shastri concurred that he was duty-bound as head of the Ministry to shoulder responsibility and resigned in 1956 following a train accident. Today, we are captive of double standards and skullduggeries wherein demands for responsibility and resignations are dismissed by are netas as political redundancies.
Look at Mamata's track record: As erstwhile Union Railway Minister from 2009-11 over 250 passengers lost their lives in train accidents. But not only did she refuse to take responsibility, conveniently dismissing it as “the drivers’ human error” and refused to resign.
Ditto, ex-Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s response to farmers’ suicide in Maharashtra. He too attributed these to vagaries of nature, instead of owning up to faulty planning and giving fertile land to builders for ugly sky-scrapers for a few pennies more. Why blame the flyover construction firm for following suit then?
Of course, RJD’s Laloo gave accountability and acquiescence an all together new meaning. Asked whether he would resign taking moral responsibility for a rail accident in 2005, his response was telling: “People have elected us to take responsibility as Ministers, not to run away from it.”
Resignation from office, as we know it now, is no more a suo motu high act, it is a part of the game of political expediency. Where do we go from here? It all depends on our netagan.
