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Highway scars

Tuesday was an unusual drive to and fro work. The 27-km drive, which once upon a time not so long ago took around 2 hours, now takes roughly one hour, depending on one, how way down my foot was on the throttle, and two, how way down other drivers had their foot on the throttle.

The reduction in commute time was thanks to the decision of the Maharashtra government - I say, Maharashtra, and not Sena-BJP or the Congress-NCP - to construct flyovers across Mumbai and the rest of the state to ease traffic congestion. Thus, Western Express Highway that links Urbs Prima Indis with Gujarat overnight became a dream stretch even though the main flyover, at Andheri, was still all bones, no flesh, thanks to an alert civic vigilante.

I remember, years ago, a friend from Germany was staying with us, and we, in our enthusiasm to show off the city we loved decided to take him to Sanjay Gandhi National Park that was on the other side of Borivili, across the above-mentioned highway. Cautioning him lest he got driven over, I told him: 'Be careful, this is the highway.' Comprehension was slow to dawn on his face. 'Highway...? You mean, autobahn?' Happy that he caught on so quick, I agreed, only to find him disagree. 'No, but this cannot be autobahn, this has only two lanes on each side...'

Today, I believe if Reinald were to see the same highway, he would be far more charitable than he was 10 years ago...

On the contrary, it may not be so. For the same expressway today may deliver 5 lanes of traffic on either side, but it is also, I believe, the first national highway in the country to sport not just speed-breakers, but rumblers! And for that, we have Tuesday's incident to be grateful to.

What happened was this. On Tuesday morning a school lad was hit by a speeding car while he was crossing the highway. This incident brought out locals in hordes, along with politicians out to feed on the carcass, who disrupted the peak-hour traffic in anger. By the time we hit the trouble-spot, at peak hour, the traffic pileup was miles-long, with no exit route. Information at that point in time was that the boy had been killed; later on in the afternoon it became known that the boy suffered a few grazes. But, at 10 pm, traffic had still not been restored on the highway, and the journey home took me more than two hours.

If you thought rumblers and speed-breakers on a national highway were strange, you don't know Maharashtra's recent political history. The flyovers were sanctioned by the state government when the Sena-BJP were in power; the new government, run by the Congress-NCP combine, doesn't want any part of the flyover legacy since it was an 'achievement' of the Opposition; so anything to slow down work on pending flyovers, anything to discredit this aspect of the government, will do just fine. So rather than ask why pedestrians are darting across a national highway, rather than build subways for pedestrians, so rather than deploy traffic police armed with state of the art equipment, this government finds it easier to pander to unwise sentiment. Only because in doing so, the previous government can get some stick.

Never mind if, under the parliamentary system, governance is a continuum, and that administrations don't go back on their predecessors' work. But then, who is to tell the veterans of Maharashtra such basic things when they are caught up with far graver matters? The state government may plead impecunity otherwise, but not when it comes to the overseas jaunts of ministers, especially when summer is here...

Thus, while this government dawdles over making Mumbai motorable, little realising that among the infrastructure that needs to be reinforced in the new world is roads, other cities are going into overdrive. But in the city that prides itself on being the commercial capital of the country, the importance of traffic management has been downgraded - because of the mistaken notion, I am convinced, that a motorist is affluent, and therefore catering to his needs is seen as being pro-rich.

Thus, a crucial flyover that in another city or country would have been up and functional in just three months is caught up over apparently environmental concerns and judicial delays, even as, in the meantime, traffic pileup everyday at the base of the proposed flyover, and the resultant pollution, make a total mockery of those who profess environmental concerns. But then, in Mumbai circa 2000 AD, it is cause that matters, not the effect.

Those who oppose flyovers in Mumbai overlook one simple geographical fact about the city: that given the enormous space constraints, the aerial route is the only way left, given that the subterranean passage is ruled out because of the seismic instability in the region. But a proposed freeway over the Arabian Sea that would deliver traffic in and out of Mumbai in minutes, is opposed for possible harm to fish.

So what is the kind of alternative proposal that those who preside over our destinies come up with? Very novel ones, like banning entry of private vehicles into South Mumbai, the Vatican within Greater Mumbai, or better still, permitting entry for vehicles based on their registration number (odd numbers on one day, even numbers the next day...).

A better plan would be to augment the public transport system, like trains and buses, but even here there is an element of populism. Railway tracks cannot be multiplied since hutments have come up alongside, and demolishing them would put paid to many a politician's votebank. It is better to have the haves suffer for no fault of theirs, since anyway most of them don't vote.

I can't but help remembering that board I saw in distant Parathwada, en route to Chikaldhara in Maharashtra last winter. It was a bumpy road, the kind one finds all over India, and yet, at a junction here was this obscure board, announcing: 'America's roads are good not because America is rich; America is rich is because its roads are good.' It is a lesson our politicians need to learn fast, but I am willing to put my money on that not happening. Especially after Terrible Tuesday's events.

Saisuresh Sivaswamy