Roads, Roads, Roads

Why it is that India is not able to build good roads? Let’s take for example the stretch of road from Mehrauli to Mahipalpur in South West Delhi which sees traffic jams every single day of the year. Thousands of vehicles going towards either Gurgaon or the International Airport are stuck in huge traffic jams all throughout the day. The road is supposed to be widened as per the government plans but is stuck in litigation after some environmentalists have objected to the felling of trees. Environmentalists or pseudo environmentalists? For every one tree felled, we can grow ten trees elsewhere but what about the fuel wastage and increasing pollution because of these traffic jams which in turn is a result of stalled road plans? The answer is simple, no government in Delhi or elsewhere in the country is really bothered about building good roads in the country.

Bureaucrats and politicians harp about a Golden Quadrilateral. As a matter of fact there should be several Golden Quadrilaterals in India. But then, if a single road in a middle class locality like Vasant Kunj in New Delhi cannot be properly built in ten years, how can other parts of India ever see good roads?

Narendra Modi came to power because people wanted a change. People wanted progress and that meant better infrastructure. But it looks like he is more happy being on twitter and other social websites. Mr Modi, Your government needs to build good roads all across India. When you cannot build good roads in the capital city, how can we trust you with building good roads in other parts of India? We need good roads to travel and to transport our goods. By good roads, I mean the kind of roads we find in Europe and America... can you build India or are you simply happy wearing a suit with your name on it?

As for you environmentalists, by clinging on to a tree is not the answer to make India green. Sometimes you need to sacrifice a few trees to make the world a lot greener. You have to weigh the pros and cons before stalling a plan. The more you delay building roads, the more polluted are we making our country. Let go of your silly pseudo green thoughts. Wake up to reality. It is time to build world class roads and world class infrastructure.