On 2nd Dec 25,000 striking Government school teachers from all over Uttarakhand converged onto Dehra Dun and took out a long march from Gandhi Park to the State Assembly demanding an increase in salary. The result, all along the way hapless commuters were trapped for up to an hour in a never ending traffic jam. From the man on a bicycle to a patient in a two wheeler to people in cars and scooters, all stuck for an hour on the road, just because no one cares for them. Enormous amounts of fuel must have been idled away on roads of Dehra Dun that day.
While VIP’s of the State are informed about such planned marches, why does the district administration not inform the general public of such disruptions to the city, which it itself authorizes? Just as the Electricity Board gives public notices of power cuts in the city, the DM’s office should issue a press circular a day prior to such rallies to inform the common man. After all, is your and mine one hour less precious than that of any state VIP? Treating “common men” as common and VIP’s as “Sahibs” is a relic of the British times and must be discarded.
With approaching Lok Sabha elections such rallies and protests are going to be much more frequent and all of us need to be saved from such harassment on the roads.
Another example of such difference between the “Aam Admi” and the “Not so Aam Admi” came up a few weeks ago, when apparently to facilitate VIP movements, the entire traffic on Rajpur Road going towards Clock Tower is being diverted off from the main Rajpur road onto a 20 feet road at the Dilaram Crossing. The Dilaram Crossing is a T-Junction where the VIP road (New Cantt Road, home of CM and the Governor) meets the Rajpur Road. For some otherwise inexplicable reason, the entire downward traffic is blocked from using the crossing and shunted off to a narrow bypass, even as the traffic is going the other way. This results in excessive traffic congestion on the bypass while the main road stays empty. To ensure that the few daily movements of VIP at the crossing are smooth, citizens of Dehra Dun are once again made to feel discriminated against.
It is the discrimination like this and couldn’t careless attitude of the politicians and bureaucrats that the country is up against and is seen on TV these days. The Aam Admi refuses to be Aam no more!
