By Patricia Mukhim
The Indian Chamber of Commerce known to have an abiding interest in promoting business and commerce in India’s North East held a round table discussion on Meghalaya Urban Infrastructure on Wednesday, February 15. Perhaps it is for the first time that the heads of different major infrastructure providers met across the table to sort out their differences. The meeting chaired by Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh in the first half and by Deputy Chief Minister BM Lanong in the second half was very insightful. There was an element of transparency involved as the different heads from Railways, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Airports Authority of India (AAI), North East Electric Power Project Corporation (NEEPCo), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) interfaced in a spirit of accommodation.
The interface between the NHAI and BSNL for instance was very interesting. In India we do not have a system of creating ducts while making roads so that all kinds of cables, pipes etc could be laid through the ducts thereby preventing repeated digging of roads for laying all kinds of cables. This was put forwards by the BSNL honchos, Messrs DP Singh and George Marshall. BSNL has suffered the worst casualties in terms of their cables being ruthlessly rammed through by the NHAI which used some of the most cutting edge machinery to flatten the hills and break through the stubborn boulders along the Barapani- Jorabat four laning project. What’s interesting is that while BSNL is today a public sector undertaking which is expected to make profits from its activities, the PSU is unable to realise any compensation from those who destroy the cables it has laid down. And this happens once too often. BSNL were told by the State Government upfront that they are not entitled to compensation even if their cables are dug by the PHE or PWD or indeed by any other actor. The question then is – where does the money come from? Perhaps it is time for the BSNL to lay this fact bare before their Minister, Sachin Pilot who has been here and seen the ground realities. It’s bad enough that BSNL’s copper cables are regularly cut and burgled.
The General Manager, Telecom showed a picture of how ducts are prepared right through the centre of a four lane road in the USA. Indeed, if India is a developing economy it is high time it borrows state of the art architecture and technology for its roads, buildings and water supply systems. Like Mr Lanong said, you don’t see broken and leaking pipes in Thailand passing through drains like you do in India. It’s amazing how our legislators and bureaucrats visit several foreign countries without bringing back any best practices for implementation back home.
The round table was helpful as issues of pending land acquisition clearances were immediately settled by the Urban Affairs Minister. There is a perceptible difference when a ministry is headed by an intelligent minister who knows exactly where the problems lie because she is up to scratch on every issue in her Department. No other minister is perhaps as active as Ampareen is in terms of sorting out knotty problems such as storm drains, solid waste management and garbage disposal in this overcrowded city. This lady is out of her house every morning by 7 am, much before her officers have had their cuppa. And mind you she is also pursuing a PhD in media reportage of conflicts in NE India and Meghalaya in particular, from NEHU. Ampareen is, till date my MLA but we will sorely miss her in 2013 as she will be contesting from a new, delimited constituency.
At the round table we learnt that AAI has invested real time resources in building up the swanky infrastructure at the Umroi (Shillong) airport. The question is why then are planes cancelled so arbitrarily? And why is only Air India given the task of coming here? Why not other airlines which also have smaller aircrafts? The AAI boss for the region, Mr RK Singla said that the absence of refuelling facilities and the compulsory Instrument Landing System (ILS) makes it difficult for aircrafts to land especially in stormy weather when visibility is low. But the ILS, we are promised, will be up and working within the next six months. And the State Government has dome something incredible. It will exempt taxes on aviation fuel. Doesn’t that sound like good news for Meghalaya? Keep your fingers crossed my countrymen!
As far as railways are concerned it doesn’t sound like very good news especially since the Khasi Student’s Union (KSU) have made it their abiding agenda not to allow railways to come beyond Byrnihat for fear of influx. Can someone tell me how we are containing influx now without railways? Just goes to show that organisational goals sometimes clash very strongly with development goals. So should we the people of Meghalaya not be allowed to have a referendum on the more substantive issues such as the railways, the Municipal elections, the construction of an abattoir, the Urban Infrastructure Development projects and what have you. I was quite aghast to learn from the Director Urban Affairs that some of our hyper active activists with the penchant for shooting down everything under the sun as a “corrupt deal” including the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funding for urban infrastructure which would have addressed our crumbling civic services being stumbling blocks. This gadfly apparently wrote a letter to the ADB saying that the Government would be pocketing 70% of money and only 30% would be used for real work. Also the writer had built up a fool-proof conspiracy theory about how land would be taken by Government or corporators for the civic infrastructure projects!
I am not a CPI (Maoist) who is constantly regurgitating about how the State as leviathan will swallow me up alive. The plaint of the Maoists today is that the state has not facilitated the progress of tribals according to their own genius and that development as defined by the state has pushed them into greater destitution. Over the years the tribes of Central India having been brainwashed by Maoist ideologies have got into the ‘Captive Mind’ syndrome. Such minds, Roger Cohen says, resort to conspiracy theories because it is the ultimate refuge of the powerless. Of course we need social audits and we must hold those using public money accountable but should we shoot down every project including one that looks at tackling our sewerage, lest we begin floating in our own shit? What happens when Shillong collapses completely? Shall we dump our garbage and sewage in the homes of those congenital pessimists who churn out these conspiracy theories? This betrays the servile mindset of people who are convinced that they are ultimately puppets. It is important therefore that Government take people on board while formulating projects so that they feel empowered. The sense of helplessness which makes the large majority of people depend on a few organisations to save them from the state should be reversed. The image of the state as an anti-people, pro-liberal, pro-rich land grabbing entity has become entrenched in people’s minds with legitimate reasons. The elected have been alienated from the elector after elections. The elected had better do a reality check on this lest they face peoples’ revolt.
The round table discussed delayed projects as well. I have always wondered why the state patronises and defends a project whose costs have escalated by thrice the estimated amount. Why are contractors who delay projects not penalised? Why are we rewarding them with attractive escalations? Who is sharing this loot from the public exchequer? In the case of the MeECL and its Leshka project (which even senior engineers from the Corporation express serious doubts about its future) I personally feel the MeECL has let us down and outsourcing future projects under strict supervision is the best way forward. Also, when projects are not completed on time who pays for time and cost overruns? If the implementing agency is a private body then there are penalty clauses for delay. But what if the MeECL is the implementing body? Who pays for the delay? It’s time to go through these delayed projects with a tooth comb and find out through RTI why they have taken so long to complete and who has benefited out of the setback?
Let’s also have more convergence meetings where people can have a report card of all the developmental projects in the state and their statuses. We the people of Meghalaya have been taken for a ride by Government, by other so-called defenders of our culture and by pseudo- socialists. It’s time to wake up take responsibility for our own lives.