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Resentment against hike in bus fare mounting in Bhopal

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NK SINGH Though a Govt. directive has frustrated the earlier efforts of the MPSRTC to increase the city bus fares by as much as 300 per cent, the public resent even the 25 per cent hike. It is "totally unjust, uncalled for and arbitrary", this is the consensus that has emerged from an opinion conducted by "Commoner" among a cross-section of politicians, public men, trade union leaders, and last but not least, the common bus travelling public. However, a section of the people held, that an average passenger would not grudge a slight pinche in his pocket provided the MPSRTC toned up its services. But far from being satisfactory, the MPSRTC-run city bus service in the capital is an endless tale of woe. Hours of long waiting, over-crowding people clinging to window panes frequent breakdowns, age-old fleet of buses, unimaginative routes and the attitude of passengers one can be patient only when he is sure to get into the next bus are some of the ills plaguing the city b...
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Death of a Maharaja

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NK SINGH


The death of 88-year-old Tukojirao III. the former Maharaja of the erstwhile Indore state, has brought an era to end. He was the only prince getting a pension (Rs five lakh per year) from the Government after the privy of India even purses to all the others were stopped by government decree.

Tukojirao ruled Indore state for a mere 15 years. from 1911 to 1926, living in the wilderness for the past 52 years. Yet, when he died on May 21 last. the people of Indore made a beeline to the massive Lalbagh Palace, once reputed to be the best garden palace in central India. to pay their last respect to the royal Holkars, the rulers of Malwa since 1740.


Pulled down


Such was the feeling among the former subjects that along with the Holkar standard, the national tri-colour too was pulled down atop the Indore Rajwada, the former ruling headquarters of the Holkars now acquired by the state government. when his funeral procession passed in front of it.


The biggest weakness of the public school-educated Maharaja, who was crowned king at the tender age of 13. was women, a weakness he could indulge in because of his position. Though benevolent and considerate in other matters -- as many of the rajas used to be -- the handsome prince had a roving eye. Old timers recall his famous one-syllable command to the palace staff, " tyala pathwun dya" (send her/him, In Marathi).


Ultimately this weakness proved to be his undoing.Tukojirao had to abdicate his gaddi in March 1926 because of his involvement in the Bawla murder case, which had hit the headlines in the mid-twenties. 


Mr Abdul Kadır Bawla, a city father of Bombay, was murdered on January 12, 1925. It happened shortly after he married, unofficially, a beautiful dancing girl, who was earlier part of Tukojirao's harem.


One of the alleged assailants was none other than the inspector general of police of the Holkar state. The crime had been committed because of a young concubine of Tukojirao. Mumtaz, who was a vivacious beauty, had left the Maharaja to become Bawla's mistress


Face probe


A judicial enquiry was ordered by the British, and Tukojirao was given the choice either to abdicate in favour of his son or face the inquest. He chooses the latter. And it was then that his pension fixed under a was a special treaty, which remained unaffected by the abolition of privy purses.


Two years later. Tukojirao married an American beauty. Nancy Miller, his third wife. Nancy was converted to Hinduism and given a Hindi name, Sharmishtha Devi. The gracious lady, who fully followed the Hindu way of life was to be his companion till the end. 


Mumtaz, the ravishing beauty of yesteryears, is still alive and lives somewhere in the great city of Bombay.


Morning Echo 

July 18, 1978




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