Roads dug up and built daily

25 Mar 2012 Kerala Commentary

Roads dug up and built daily, trees cut down everywhere, no one to watch in the ministry.

P.S.Remesh Chandran.

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.

Out of the thousands of crores government allots for the development of roads, 10 to 15 percent will certainly be put on the road. The present road construction ratio running in Kerala is 60 percent to the contractors, 30 percent to the officials and 10 percent on the road. For this 10 percent that is put on the road, Kerala roads look comparatively better. We do not know how they make this possible. No sooner these roads are built than they are dilapidated. In the past the blame was put on the bullock carts but now there are no bullock carts pulling weights in Kerala. This dilapidation of the roads is due entirely to stealing money from the allotted funds. Drivers have post-graduated in pit management. When a state minister says that nearly 100 crores are going to be set aside for roads, we all know that a few rich people are going to be richer by 90 crore rupees. Occasionally a public works minister will release a press note saying that road contractors are going to be held responsible for bad roads as if they were not responsible for the roads they constructed till now. The Kerala P.W.D has excellent rules but what can they do when the contractors contribute heavily to the minister's party fund? A few years ago, when we travelled through newly constructed or repaired roads, we could see the engineers standing there from the start to the finish. Now where are they? Are not they responsible for the bad roads? How many engineers were dismissed for not supervising works? P.W.D rules stipulate that details of the work being done, including the name of engineer, contractor, amount involved, time for completion, etc, should be displayed on work sites, so that people shall know things and object to if and when necessary. Can a minister show one single such board placed anywhere in Kerala? When technical problems occur during works, there were once skilled engineers in government to solve them. It was a time when the most brilliant of students alone became engineers, a time when there was no payment seat for engineering courses. Now engineers look up to contractor for solutions. If the solution involves spending more money, the problem would be left unsolved. So the government allows people's money, roads are built and they dilapidated within a month. Every road in Kerala is left unfinished for years. Since road construction is lucrative, politicians bifurcate Public Works Department and build new spendthrift organizations like Road Development Boards to loot money. The greatest easement violations are conducted by these establishments. They make three foot wide footpaths, two foot high, denying access to thousands of homes, shops, schools and hospitals, with no one to ask them. What money they are given are squandered on polished railings and tiled paving. If a rowdy vehicle comes, which sure will come anytime anywhere in Kerala, how will one jump and escape into a footpath? Travel through Kerala and look on either side. It looks like a mad elephant has trampled through.

27 March 2012 Kerala Commentary

The Roads Division of the Public Works Department of Kerala got 98 crore rupees from government as immediate interim relief in March 2012. Out of this 98 crores rupee going to be allotted for the development of Trivandrum roads, 10 to 15 crores will certainly be put on the road. The present road construction ratio running in Kerala is 60 percent to the contractors, 30 percent to the officials and 10 percent on the road. For this 10 percent that is put on the road, Trivandrum roads look comparatively better. We do not know how they make this possible. No sooner these roads are built than they are dilapidated. In the past the blame was put on the bullock carts but now there are no bullock carts pulling weights in Kerala. This dilapidation of the roads are due entirely to stealing money from the allotted funds. When a state minister says that nearly 100 crores are going to be set aside for city roads, we all know that a few rich people are going to be richer by 90 crores rupees. Occasionally a public works minister will release a press note saying that road contractors are going to be held responsible for bad roads as if they were not responsible for the roads they constructed till now. The Kerala P.W.D has excellent rules but what can they do when the contractors contribute heavily to the minister's party fund? A few years ago, when we travelled through newly constructed or repaired roads, we could see the engineers standing there from the start to the finish. Now where are they? Are not they responsible for the bad roads? How many engineers were dismissed for not supervising works? P.W.D rules stipulate that details of the work being done, including the name of engineer, contractor, amount involved, time for completion, etc, should be displayed on work sites, so that people shall know things and object if and when necessary. Can the minister show one single such board placed anywhere in Kerala? When technical problems occur during works, there were once skilled engineers in government to solve them. It was a time when the most brilliant of students became engineers, a time when there were no payment seats for engineering courses. Now the engineers look up to the contractor for solutions. If the solution involves spending more money, the problem is left unsolved. So the government allows people's money, roads are built and they degenerate within a month. Every road in Trivandrum are left unfinished for years. It is sure the lions' share of this money would be given to some anti-human establishment named something like Trivandrum Road Development Fund Board, a new spendthrift. The greatest easement violations were conducted by this establishment. They make three foot wide footpaths, two foot high, denying access to hundred thousands of homes, shops, schools and hospitals in Trivandrum. What money they are given are squandered on polished railings and paving tiles. If a rowdy vehicle comes, which sure will come anytime anywhere, how will one jump and escape into the footpath? Travel through Trivandrum and look on either side. It looks like a path a mad elephant trampled.

28 March 2012 Kerala Commentary

Progress of work on roads may, will be and should be hindered where the work purposefully reaches in front of a tree. Roads should go round the tree. That is respect. That is what wise men do. They will plan and design roads with intention to protect as many trees as possible on the way. It was no fault of the tree to have happened to be standing there. It was the folly of the road to have come its way. One single leaf in a good tree on a roadside is worth far more than the authority-arrogant tiny brain architects of City Road Improvement Projects, Road Fund Boards and Indian Roads Congress. When cutting permission for trees has to be given, the Forest Department has to observe strict rules. Presence of one of their staff in the environmental committee is not at all an excuse for cutting down trees. 10 trees should be planted, protected and nursed to full growth before a proposed tree is permitted to be cut down, that too only in inevitable circumstances. This means that planning for development will have to be done years earlier. That is what development organizations are constituted for, to plan things in advance. Plan in advance and move in advance, not in cheating law but in observing law. The people know how many trees standing in whichever places were cut down, without discrimination. The Chief Architect of City Road Improvement Project did not plant, protect and nurse to full growth one single tree anywhere in Trivandrum before cutting down 3000 trees. That is the truth in Cochin and Calicut also. Prosecutions will come in its time. Law is equal for all, whether it is a citizen, organization or committee. Forest Department officials forcefully take away the hand axes of poor village women who enter forests for picking dry wood lying on the ground. Even if branches are cut down, forests will grow at fantastic rates. In no time they would be full trees again. There is no harm in cutting tree branches in forests. But here it is healthy fully grown trees that are cut down unnecessarily. Why can’t roads take a curve? We cannot see Schencottah from Secretariate. Roads will curve. It was the District Estate Officer of Kerala Forest Department who was duty bound to ensure continued existence of those trees in Pulimmodu, Secratariate, Spenser, Vellayambalam, Sasthamangalam, Kawdiar, Ambalammukku and Peroorkada. If he did not ensure their life, it was his dereliction of duty, like his counterparts’ in Cochin and Calicut. In unofficial estimates, not less than 1800 trees were illegally cut in this stretch of road alone during the years since CRIP’s inception. Hundreds of video films exist in people’s hands, taken during wedding travels and festival processions during the years, picturing the old and the new road sides, by comparing which the spots where trees were cut down can be pinpointed. So, the authorities who came by night and cut those trees did not think they have not left behind evidence. It is Treeeeeevandrum anyway.