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Patna station fine, but outside...: The Pioneer
Patna, Jan 22: The Patna Railway station for somebody visiting the state Capital after years comes as a pleasant surprise. The platform is cleaner, the waiting hall outside is much more spacious and the enquiry counter better equipped.
Patna, Jan 22: The Patna Railway station for somebody visiting the state Capital after years comes as a pleasant surprise. The platform is cleaner, the waiting hall outside is much more spacious and the enquiry counter better equipped.
But as one moves out of the station, things revert to the past. Frazer Road - the main thoroughfare of the city - presents the dichotomy of state economics. While the road is littered with filth and dirt, some modern high-rises, too, stand as witnesses to change.
Outside the Patna station, as you peep through the window of your vehicle the stench could make you baulk. The place could qualify as the world's biggest open urban urinal. The flow of urine is so thick that the earth refuses to soak any further. The open bins and feasting pigs add to the general scenario of filth - welcome to Patna.
The poor state of public sanitation in Patna is distressing especially because it was here that Bindeswar Pathak launched his now world famous Sulabh movement. Sulabh - the first experiment to providing the poor an opportunity at dignified excretion. Bindeswar Pathak has since shifted his base from Patna. His movement has its many takers in the world including the Americans but in Bihar, ruled by a casteist regime, he is an untouchable.
Ironical for the Brahmin, who once annoyed his caste men when he took up the cause of those forsaken to carry night soil on their head. There isn't just dirt and filth; the main roads of Patna sometimes vanish into a cloud of dust as potholes replace the tar. The roads in Patna present a contrast, while those within the residential colonies are all done-up with thick-layers of concrete, the main roads are broken and in tatters.
The reason for this is not far to seek. Each of the refurbished colony roads has a huge black marble stone installed announcing which public representative's funds has been utilised. They are no small names - local Member of Parliament and Union Minister C P Thakur, Rajya Sabha member and Information & Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajya Sabha Member, another Union Minister Shatrughan Sinha and even legal eagle Kapil Sibal, in addition to the local MLAs. Mr Sibal is a Rajya Sabha member from the state. It's obvious, a claim to a good road means tons of goodwill in the State.
Ask any State Government official for the poor condition of roads, he or she would parrot the same lines, which for long has become the copyright of their master Laloo Prasad Yadav. "There are no funds for the state. The Centre has been meting out a step-motherly treatment," is the common refrain. But none has a clue of the development funds worth several crore of rupees, which are spent on paying salary to the huge Government staff.
The state in fact has found a way out to compare its inefficiency on the maintenance of the roads with that of the central agencies. The potholed National Highway-80, which runs through Bihar, connecting the North-East at several intersections has signboards saying, "Is sadak ka rakh-rakhav kendra sarkar dwara kiya ja raha hai. (This road is maintained by the Central Government)."
It's to the credit of Bihar that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's dream, the Golden Quadrilateral Highway project, just refuses to take off. Why it refuses to take off is another story.
Outside the Patna station, as you peep through the window of your vehicle the stench could make you baulk. The place could qualify as the world's biggest open urban urinal. The flow of urine is so thick that the earth refuses to soak any further. The open bins and feasting pigs add to the general scenario of filth - welcome to Patna.
The poor state of public sanitation in Patna is distressing especially because it was here that Bindeswar Pathak launched his now world famous Sulabh movement. Sulabh - the first experiment to providing the poor an opportunity at dignified excretion. Bindeswar Pathak has since shifted his base from Patna. His movement has its many takers in the world including the Americans but in Bihar, ruled by a casteist regime, he is an untouchable.
Ironical for the Brahmin, who once annoyed his caste men when he took up the cause of those forsaken to carry night soil on their head. There isn't just dirt and filth; the main roads of Patna sometimes vanish into a cloud of dust as potholes replace the tar. The roads in Patna present a contrast, while those within the residential colonies are all done-up with thick-layers of concrete, the main roads are broken and in tatters.
The reason for this is not far to seek. Each of the refurbished colony roads has a huge black marble stone installed announcing which public representative's funds has been utilised. They are no small names - local Member of Parliament and Union Minister C P Thakur, Rajya Sabha member and Information & Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajya Sabha Member, another Union Minister Shatrughan Sinha and even legal eagle Kapil Sibal, in addition to the local MLAs. Mr Sibal is a Rajya Sabha member from the state. It's obvious, a claim to a good road means tons of goodwill in the State.
Ask any State Government official for the poor condition of roads, he or she would parrot the same lines, which for long has become the copyright of their master Laloo Prasad Yadav. "There are no funds for the state. The Centre has been meting out a step-motherly treatment," is the common refrain. But none has a clue of the development funds worth several crore of rupees, which are spent on paying salary to the huge Government staff.
The state in fact has found a way out to compare its inefficiency on the maintenance of the roads with that of the central agencies. The potholed National Highway-80, which runs through Bihar, connecting the North-East at several intersections has signboards saying, "Is sadak ka rakh-rakhav kendra sarkar dwara kiya ja raha hai. (This road is maintained by the Central Government)."
It's to the credit of Bihar that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's dream, the Golden Quadrilateral Highway project, just refuses to take off. Why it refuses to take off is another story.