On the chilly, foggy morning of the 5th of
January, I found myself stuck in yet another traffic jam. Traffic jams are a
grand tradition of this city, no matter how wide the road, it will succumb to
the sheer volume of commuters on one day or another. This particular road I was
stranded on, this stretch at the very least isn’t usually subject to traffic
jams, and yet, here I was. The reason? Half the road has been dug up by the
authorities for some pipe-laying work. It’s cordoned off, and excavators and
cranes are hard at work. I have full faith that the work will be completed
soon; for 'soon' is as good a time frame as one can expect in this city for such
things. I also have full faith that the same road will be dug up again inconveniently soon,
probably by some other authority, for some other work.
The trouble arises from having too many departments trying
to manage similar tasks. Trust me; we have a whole plethora of them looking
after our roads and civil infrastructural needs – CPWD, MCD, NHAI, PWD, and
DSIIDC to name some. The saying, “too many cooks spoil the broth” stands in
silent mockery of the situation in this city. The departments have absolutely
no coordination and will often blame each other for shoddy work. In case of a
mistake coming under public purview, the departments happily engage in a game of blame shifting
and mudslinging. I think their collective motto stands thus: Has it been done?
Well, dig it up and do it again!
The irony of the situation is that I don’t particularly
resent the traffic snarl. Not only have I accepted it as a near-natural
phenomenon of everyday life, I actually feel safe in the middle of a hundred
other cars. On a day on which visibility is under 10 meters, the gashes in the
road are a death trap for any non-suspecting driver. Why the authorities undertook
such work at such an unsuitable time beats my understanding, hopefully somebody
somewhere knows. The traffic jam reduces my commute to a crawl, but at least it
makes it highly unlikely that I will drive into a huge pit. Here’s the typical
optimistic delhiite speaking, looking for the silver lining in every cloud.
Only In Delhi.
