RESPECT THE CHALLENGE BEFORE
OVERCOMING IT
The change in the political leadership
in the State on 01 Feb 2014, with the grass roots Congress worker and
subsequent leader Harish Rawat, who was rightfully deserving of the position
immediately after the Party had gone ‘first past the post’ in the Assembly
elections, has rung in frenetic governmental activity comprising essential, much
needed and overdue, and some populous schemes aimed at the restoration, growth,
development and administrative gingering up of the bureaucracy in Uttarakhand.
All of which is welcome and necessary, more so in the wake of the devastation
that visited the upper reaches of the hill districts, from which the affected
districts are still limping back to normalcy. Rawat, was anointed as the leader
of the executive by the Party authorities, primarily to give the requisite
impetus and momentum to the snail paced relief and restoration work, that has
punctured the Congress image here and is likely to adversely impact its chances
of returning the four Members of Parliament that it presently has in the 15th
Lok Sabha. With the reins of the Congress having been handed over to Rahul
Gandhi, who as its Vice President and the youthful leader charged to take the
Party to electoral victory in the coming General Elections, the challenge is
more than Herculean and probably beyond the realm of possibility. But,
political astuteness demands putting up a brave front, be imbued with hope and
bank on an advantageous cross voting pattern, imposed by the national and
regional parties, which are in the electoral fray. In a worst case scenario,
should victory not be in sight then the endeavor is to threaten and stop the
Modi juggernaut from coming into power and staking claim for the formation of a
government in the Centre. When winning is not an option, then be a spoil sport
and ruin the other’s chance. The CM is considered to be the best that the
Congress has in its fold in Uttarakhand, to deliver on this political strategy.
The change of guard, with just three months before the process of going into
elections is a calculated and desperate attempt to operationalize this
stratagem and win all five Lok Sabha seats in Uttarakhand.
Harish Rawat, is a long standing
politician who has made a niche for himself in the State by the sheer dint of
his hard work, Party allegiance and loyalty to the Gandhi family. Therefore,
while he has a very appreciable understanding of the social, cultural,
geographical, economic and local issues which abound and exist in the 13
districts of Uttarakhand; he also has the administrative acumen to lead his
cabinet ministers and the bureaucracy towards meaningful governance. The same
cannot be said about his predecessor, who wasted much of the time he had in the
interregnum between the devastation in Jun 2013 and up to Jan 2014, to provide
the much promised relief, restoration and re building required to bring
normalcy to the affected regions. Aware as we are, that the lines of
communication as these exist in the hills are solely road bound, therefore
their state and condition is imperative for the desired connectivity, which
these provide to the people for their sustenance and survival. The roads are
the lifeline of the people and their access to food, health, education,
agriculture, water, social demands, provisioning etc. Moreover, with religious
tourism being a major source of earning and commercial activity of the local
people here, they are hugely dependent on the successful conduct of the ‘Yatra
Season’. The roads leading to Kedarnath, Badrinath, Hemkund, Gangotri and
Yamunotri have all been severely damaged and washed away at places. The
bridges, where these were earlier are no more there and the road alignment at places
has changed all together. With the timeline for the portals of the Kedarnath
temple to open at 6 AM on 04 May 2014 is a huge challenge which the CM faces,
to open the road axis for the pilgrims. Similarly, the other shrines are
equally affected and access to these is far from ready. Harish Rawat has made
the building of those roads and bridges, which serve these shrines as a matter
of prestige and honor for his Government, with an eye on the coming elections.
He realizes that the political spinoff of this achievement will be huge and
will boost his governance ability among his colleagues, as none other. But
sadly, what is important for him is also to understand that the mountains have
become extremely fragile and any attempt to undertake reconstruction activity,
without the use of adequate modern technology, which goes into the making of
roads here is pregnant with danger and waste of time, money and effort. Mr
Rawat, it will be well worth it “should you first respect the challenge, before
you try and overcome it”. It is rather surprising that now the CM has tasked
the PWD, DIG Martolia and Col Ajai Kothiyal, Principal NIM, Uttarkashi to work
towards this objective. To me it seems a disastrous decision, which will be
replete with construction flaws, inconsistencies, leadership failure and foolhardiness
to challenge nature and discard commonsense. With the weather being erratic and
the ecology being extremely sensitive and delicate, it is any bodies’ guess
that what will be constructed and made will be sub standard and vulnerable. The
government may have to pay a huge price in their eagerness to push through
their ambitious agenda, of challenging nature and its several ramifications in
attempting to do something which should not be done at all. The desperation of
the CM is evident in the fact that, the PWD has been tasked with the job in the
absence of the DGBRO and a police and an army officer from the infantry, have
been co opted in a civil engineering specialized road building undertaking,
even if as task force commanders. I, wonder if it is the right thing to do in
the existing circumstances. Rather, the CM should have the courage to take a
political decision in the matter and not rush things up to meet the
astrological deadline of making the roads accessible to the pilgrims, when the
portals of the various shrines are ordained to open.
Brig S D Dangwal
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