Solutions to Change

Another Bumpy ride in Cochin city. I was alarmed at the ratio in whcih the private vehicles increase in the city. The reason I find is: No one believes in the Public Transport. In fact by driving their own vehiclesto city, they are also adding to the problem. There is no space in city to accomodate all the vehicles. In the morning and evening, it takes mimmum half an hour to cross one Kilo meter. The city tries to attract investment and the Government claims also by acknowledging the Dubai internet city's upcoming investment 'SMART CITY'. But the exisitng city cannot be smart without solving the traffic issue. the adminstration has some how resolved to the point that there cannot be any Fly overs, metro rails or sky buses in city. This may be the only city in India having more that one million population, without any traffic improvement systems. No wonder, citizens migrate to the other parts of the world. There is cynisism in everyone's mind. The roads are nightmares ...

I was wondering the other day reading the JNNURM status report in Cochin. The Coperation has been so murky in their stand in their dealings with JNNURM so far. This is the same Coperation dealt with ADB an Administrative Staff College on various projects including the double entry sytem for accounts. They are supposed to learn and improve their auditing system by now. But under JNNURM, Cochin coperation seems to be in the loggerheads on accounts part. Many times, what wonders me is the attitude and the way the Coperation deals with this situation. I am not sure they know their assests and values in the city. If they do not know, at least the citizens have the right to know it. May be we can ask for their assessment on their properties and send thema message that we are watchful in these areas and let them understand they cannot fool everyone everytime.

I was on the way to Anna Nagar this evening. I was waiting for a bus in T Nagar area. These days I prefer to commute in share autos as it is fast and also convenient to me. It was around 9.30 p.m. There are frequent share autos from T Nagar area to Anna Nagar. The charges are fixed in share autos in Chennai unlike the regular ones. When a share auto came to my side, I boarded it. I was the first passenger to board it. I was sitting near to the driver as he was waiting for more passengers. All of a sudden, a police man appeared in the scene; “where are you going?” he asked the driver. “Anna Nagar”, the driver replied. Then the police man came near to the door where I was sitting and showed his palm to the driver with a meaning to it. I could not understand for a moment what is happening. The driver immediately, gave Rs 10 to the policeman. The police man disappeared in the crowd. It generated much curiosity in me. I asked the driver as he started the drive from T Nagar area. By that tim...

I was going to Madras University campus in the morning. The bus was caught up in traffic snarl near Chepauk Stadium. The bus was diverted to another route. Then i came to understand the President in city. Though I read the news in the morning, I never thought about the traffic jam when I set out. I have to get down from the bus since the bus condcutor said the bus would not go to Anna Sqaure, where the university is. I walked down the road in the direction of the University campus. then I approached an auto. when we reached near Kannaki statue, the police again blocked the road. they even blocked the pedestrians. I had to wait for another 30 minutes to move further. Finally i reached the campus more than one hour latre. i completed the work within ten minutes and came out of the campus. then again the police has bloaked the road for the President. i waited there for another 40 minutes so that the convoy of the President passed the street. In the last five years, for the first time, I h...

Indian Railways has done reasonably well in the recent times by aunctioning its owned property adjacent to the railway stations all over India. They in fact are succesful in creating a public limited company to over see these transactions and make a business out of it. But look at the Kerala Road Transport Corperation owned properities in Kerala. Though the KSRTC bus fares are more compared to the Private Bus fares, KSRTC is still having an annual loss of Rs 84 Crores. Every nook and corner of the state, KSRTC manages unutilized property to a larger extend. Imagine if they are in the hands of the private entrepreneurs. It should have created business opportunities in Kerala and also created thousands of employment opportunities in Kerala. The tax payers of Kerala shall demad the accountability from the transport ministry on this. Even after the air trafiic has been deregulated, KSRTC is still at the mercy of politicians